The Crossover
by Dalton Mars
Summary: Repost with an upgraded plot and some character changes... The Marvel and DC worlds co-exists. Mostly movie plots... Review!
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: I am re-writing this fic with some major changes in mind regarding a few characters…**

 **00000**

The world knew who Iron Man was now that Tony had revealed his identity in front of the world a few hours ago. While the fans of the billionaire and the girls were going crazy with this revelation a few competitors and the government were keen on getting their hands on this little piece of technology Tony Stark had developed. It was no secret that the Stark Tower ran on its own power generated from a fusion reactor designed and made by Tony himself. In an interview Tony had revealed that his suit used the same reactor but only it was a lot smaller. Everyone had witnessed the power the suit held so they could decipher the power that the reactor inside Tony's suit could generate.

Hammer Industries was one of the closest competitors of Stark Industries although Tony never considered Hammer a competitor himself. He had known the guy since he was small and he had problems. The guy was desperate for attention and even when he was this successful he still wanted more which meant that if Hammer Industries got their hands on Tony's design then not only will Hammer sell that technology to the highest bidder the weapons would become far more deadlier than it already was and that was something Tony could not let happen, especially after that he had seen recently. That was the very reason why Stark Industries no longer manufactured weapons. It had cut ties with all of its contractors, a greater part of which was owned by the government. Companies who dreamt of competing with Stark Industries saw this as an opportunity to now grab the weapons market but they found it hard to compete with the quality of Stark Industries weaponries.

It was a fine evening as Tony got ready for an important meeting. He was in his penthouse getting ready while talking to Jarvis at the same time when the door opened and Pepper walked in.

"I thought I changed the password?" he asked, not looking at Pepper but his mirror self as he struggled to tie the bow-tie.

"And you told me how to ever-rise it after you told the world that I was your girlfriend and the CEO of your company," Pepper said as she came and stood beside him, looking in the mirror. "You look dashing," she said with a smile, "and you still don't know to tie that," she said, making Tony face her as she began adjusting his bow-tie. "So tonight's important?" she asked.

"Mm-hmm," he said.

"You never told me where you are going tonight, especially without me," she asked.

"To meet someone even more special," he said. "I owe it all to him considering he looked a great deal after me after the incident with my parents."

Pepper immediately noticed the change of look in Tony's eyes as soon as he mentioned his parents. She knew it was a sensitive topic. On one hand he despised his father and also sometimes his mother but she knew he knew that he loved them and he missed them. He missed them dearly.

"Going there at night, it could be dangerous," she said.

"Don't worry. I've made an upgrade to the suit," he said, looking at his right Pepper followed his sight and saw a suitcase sitting on the coffee table.

"How did you get it fit in there?" she asked.

"Not fit," he said. "It is the suit. I had to make a lot more changes to get it to fold itself to that size but it was worth it. Makes it carrying easier."

"Will the security allow it?" she asked.

"Why not? He knows I am meeting him tonight at his place so he knows I would be bringing the suit with me. The entire world knows I carry my suit everywhere I go. That is why the senator hasn't contacted me yet because he knows I will go to meet him with my suit and he doesn't want that. No one in his shoes wants that and neither does Hammer," he said.

"You be careful, though," she said, placing a soft kiss on his cheek making Tony Pout. "That town has got its own reputation."

Tony nodded before wearing his extra pricey suit and then standing on a round platform which started descending downwards. "Mind passing me that case?" he said. Pepper shook her head before she handed the case to Tony as he kept descending down to the floor just beneath his penthouse where he kept his precious collection of cars.

00000

He looked out the window. The night was clear but the streets weren't. Ever since he had disappeared there was a visible rise of crime in Gotham. The police department had changed, more honest to their duty now but they could only do so much. There was also this fact that he was also retired, soon after that night when the city saw the last sighting of the Batman, disappearing as a hero in the eyes of some and a villain for the rest, including the authority.

Retired police commissioner James Gordon turned around from the large window he was looking the Gotham skylight from as the liquor in his glass shook from the movement. He had this urgency to know the identity of the person behind that mask but he had refrained it from coming out even when he knew that he could easily know it at that moment when he had his last talk with the Batman. He knew this that the Batman would reveal it to him without hesitation but he had restrained himself from the temptation and moments after the city had seen the Dark Knight's demise. The erecting of the statue in his honor was a debatable issue but it had finally been up there, on top of the Gotham Tower, the tallest building in Gotham.

And now it had been twenty years since that incident and there was word that a new vigilante was there in town. The authority had not taken this lightly and had immediately advertised this new vigilante an outlaw. Some even called him the Batman but Jim knew he wasn't. There was a different vibe with the Batman. He had experienced h=it firsthand and although he had never met this new vigilante he knew that this new guy had stated working soon after the Batman had died.

'A hero can be anyone,' the words rang inside his head. The last words Batman had said to him.

"But will the city accept him as a Hero?" Jim asked, turning again to look outside the window and towards the Gotham Tower which was visible from his house.

"Dinner's ready, dad," came the voice of his daughter.

"Coming, hon," he said, turning around from the window and gulping down the last remains of the alcohol. He often wondered if he missed those days and was he a crazy person to not enjoying this carefree retired life as the police commissioner of Gotham City. 'Could you have felt the same if you were alive and had retired?' he thought as he looked at the empty glass he had just placed at the kitchen counter.

"You lost again?"

Jim turned around to see it was her daughter. He smiled. She had moved in with him a year ago as her work had needed her here. She was his first child. He still missed her, his first wife Lee Tompkins. They had seen the crazy days this city had went through. They had their own ups and downs but they had held strong to each other and to themselves at certain points in time but fate had to take out one of them and it was her. It had happened a year after Barbra was born. Jim could not contain himself after that and it had been very difficult for him to come back to the normal life, now with a daughter to look after.

He had also met Barbra, a girl from a new batch of GCPD and they both had hit it then and there. She had made him forget Lee most of the time and soon enough the two had married. She gave up the job soon after the marriage to look after Barbra, Jim's daughter and later on her own two children. By this time Barbra had grown into an adult and had moved out.

Jim looked at the picture on the kitchen counter. It had the photo of his wife Barbra, his daughter Barbra and his second and third children – a son and a daughter. He wondered where his wife and children were at the moment. She and his children had left him after the incidents of Joker and Harvey Dent. Having someone point a gun at your child would break any parent and she had taken it in the most, finally reaching her limit.

To say that it had made his work a bit easier was a cruel thing to think about but Jim could not deny it. The divorce was finalized rather quickly with his wife taking custody of the two children and nothing else. She had left him without letting him know where she had gone. It was a good thing perhaps because that way she or his children would not be targeted because of Jim himself.

He had seen it that night when he had returned back to work after a very long vacation. Just like old times he had went up to the roof with a stack of files that held records of the present day arrests and releases. It was completely new and the symbol was a bit smaller and also different. Unlike before it was now shaped more like an eagle in a 'V' form. A chill of anxiousness ran inside him as he touched it. A part of him told him to turn it on. Will he come back if he turned it on? He hardly did even when he was alive. What was this new symbol on the light? The symbol felt the same to touch yet it felt so different at the same time.

The dinner had been a quiet half an hour with neither James nor his daughter talking about anything. It was like this for a while now. They had run out of things to talk. Barbra had her normal boring job while Jim had his boring days. After the dinner he came out into the balcony to have his night smoke. As he lit the cigar he looked down into the empty streets of Gotham. Somewhere right now someone was being mugged while someone was being arrested. He wondered if the new vigilante was working tonight? It had been almost twenty years since the last sighting of the Batman and probably the same was the time period for this new vigilante to be working if he was real in the first place. There were days when the police would find criminals wound up on the streets with a pack of evidence beside them. Unlike the Batman this guy was more secretive, playing it safe, knowing the current scenario. Maybe that was the reason no one ever saw him. The criminals he had caught also didn't know much about him except that he wore a black armored suit with a blue colored eagle type of symbol on his chest.

As he smoked in his last puff the sound of a loud engine grabbed his attention. He looked down from his balcony to see a rather expensive sports car come and go at a fast speed. Jim noticed the car heading for the direction of Wayne Tower. If it was this late then it was perhaps a personal meeting, probably with a friend perhaps.

'Rich people with rich friends,' Jim thought as he threw the cigar butt and went inside, closing the door behind him.

00000

Bruce looked at the news. There was nothing new going on a global scale except for a few global random problems like the world hunger, poverty in places of Africa and Asia etcetera. Changing channels found him looking new about Tony Stark's Iron Man suit. The billionaire playboy had made himself a new toy that had not only changed some changeable scenario in part of Middle East but also had the worlds' governments scramble in their seats. Bruce had to commend Tony for miniaturizing his arc reactor to such a scale. It really was a feat.

The bell of his penthouse rang. He looked at the late hour and smiled. He was here. Bruce walked up to the door and opened it and on the other side was tony Stark standing in his brand new pricey suit that crisply sat on his body.

"Evening, partner," Tony said as he entered the lavish penthouse and made himself comfortable even before Bruce could've said anything.

"How was the drive here?" Bruce asked as he closed the door and walked towards the counter to pick up two glasses as Tony unpacked a rather old bottle of wine he had brought with himself.

"Calm, unlike the reputation of your city. No hard feelings," Tony said as he poured in drinks for the two.

"None taken," Bruce said as he made himself comfortable on the armchair what was the only thing other than his bed that would relieve his now old body. Being Batman for all those years was taking its toll on him in his old age. Although, it wasn't surprising to see a wealthy billionaire walking with the help of a cane in his mid-sixties. "So, the new suit is taking the world by storm?" he asked.

"You still sound unimpressed," Tony said. "Perhaps this new upgrade will complete it for you," he said as he turned to look at the case he had brought with himself. "Thanks for letting the security allow me to come with this."

"No matter what you brought here you will always be allowed in, Tony," Bruce said.

"And what if someday I decide to turn on you?" Tony asked playfully.

"Then that would also be the day for you to taste defeat by an old man," Bruce said with a smile.

"Your quirkiness hasn't gone with your age, I see," Tony said. "Anyways, wanna take a look at it?"

"Go ahead," Bruce said, welcoming the chance to see probably the most powerful suit till date in working.

Tony stood up and pressed a button on the case. A laser turned on, scanning his face and palms before two levers shot out from either side of the case. Tony held on to each and pulled them apart. The case opened like a chained machine as plates of armor and gear and circuitry expanded from the case formation and enveloped Tony's body gracefully. A moment later Tony stood tall with his Iron Man suit, the light from the arc reactor falling on Bruce's face. "So, what do you think?" he asked.

"I am impressed," Bruce said.

"You don't sound like one," Tony said. "Perhaps it is your old age. Say what, do you think I could've stood against the Batman in this armor?"

"What makes you think that?" Bruce asked. "You two are way different then each other. He is gone. It has been twenty years. Technologically you are superior to him. You can probably beat him in a hand-to-hand combat and you can fly."

"So could he, couldn't he?" Tony asked. "Not many people know about that guy."

"How can someone if he existed about twenty years ago?" Bruce said with a smile. "Some even say that he is nothing but an urban legend."

"Then the authorities are lunatics who have erected a statue of that guy on top of the tower," Tony said. "Anyways, we are not here to talk about vigilantism. We are here to enjoy."

"I thought it was about work," Bruce asked.

"I already know what your answer would be even though it is much safer now," Tony said. "It has been a long time since that incident. Plus, that guy's design was filled with flaws."

"Nonetheless it was a remarkable work," Bruce said. "Being a little paranoid after an incident like that cannot be blamed."

"But it is not only that," Tony said. "You don't trust me."

"Speaking bluntly I don't think after what happened I can be blamed," Bruce said. "It is not only about what happened all those years ago but what is happening right now. All those people's reaction towards your suit, its power core, its efficiency. I don't think I have to tell you how the world has responded towards it."

"What they are doing isn't right, thought," Tony said. "Their failed attempts do give me a good laugh."

"Unless someone finally understands it and then he will make a reactor that will make the world see the same thing that happened all those years ago, only this time it will be an assured catastrophe because they definitely would've learnt from it."

"I wonder what my father would've thought of it," Tony said. "This thing that I made, I wonder how he would've reacted towards it."

"He would be proud," Bruce said.

"Yeah, sure he would be," Tony said. "Don't mock me, Bruce."

"To be honest I knew him better then you did," Bruce said. "It is in a father's nature to not be completely honest with his son."

"Don't sound like a father when you are not one," Tony said, his voice a bit harder this time.

"Neither are you," Bruce said in his calm manner.

The two sat in silence in the dimly lit room as the city outside started to sleep for the night. There were a couple sirens of the patrol cars. Crime was still floating on the streets of Gotham. Bruce looked towards the window and gave out a long sigh.

"I have been approached," Tony said.

"By whom?" Bruce asked.

"Nick Fury," Tony said. "He is the director of SHIELD."

Bruce knew what SHIELD was. He was being targeted by its agent when he was active in Gotham. He wondered if Blake had been contacted by them. He hadn't talked to him ever since he had gave up being Batman. He hadn't even seen him since then. His base might still be in the cave beneath the Wayne Manor. Bruce had left the place after Alfred had died. He could no longer live there and so he had made that place an orphanage. He had gotten the idea from Blake when he had first come to him.

"And I don't think I am at the liberty of knowing what SHIELD is?" Bruce asked, already knowing about it.

"I don't think little Fury would mind me telling someone like you about his pretty secret organization," Tony said.

"Someone like me?" Bruce asked with a smile.

"Well, you are Bruce Wayne. Globally popular and one of the richest person to ever live," Tony said. "And I am soon going to surpass you I that field."

"I would like to see your business model after you closed off your weapons' department," Bruce said.

"Your company used to make weapons, too," Tony said.

"Before I took over," Bruce said. "And besides, the applied science division responsible for its production had hardly done anything. That was why I closed it off the first thing after taking control of the company."

"How does your company makes so much?" Tony asked.

"You are asking me after having a company of your own," Bruce said.

"I don't run my company," Tony said. "I don't even know how much I make. I've given the entire control to Pepper."

"I heard that," Bruce said. "The investors are not happy about it though."

"Let them be."

"They are the reason your company is alive after your father left it to you," Bruce said. "And after you closed off your weapons department your company's earning has almost come down to half. And I don't need to tell you how desperate the government is to get their hands on your suit."

Tony didn't say anything. He just stood up and walked over to the large window of Bruce's penthouse, looking at the city skyline's beauty at night. "I think I am dying," he said.

Bruce stopped as he was about to take a sip from his glass as he looked up at the man standing by the window. Placing his glass on the table he stood up. "What do you mean?" he asked.

"The suit, it's killing me," Tony said.

"The radiation," Bruce said, realizing the situation.

"Yeah," Tony said. "Also, the palladium core is poisoning my blood. It is running out way too quickly then I had anticipated." He turned around and opened a few buttons of his shirt revealing the arc reactor in his chest. Its light was flickering. "Wanna see what is inside me?" he said as he walked over to the couch and sat down with a heavy breath. Bruce noticed it at once. Tony was looking a bit tired as his eyes started sulking.

Tony reached for his arc reactor and pulled it out carefully. "There is a cigar box in the inside pocket of my coat. Will you bring it to me?" Tony asked, looking at Bruce. The man nodded and handed him the cigar box which weighed heavier than it should have.

Tony pressed the front of the arc reactor and the round glowing core came out as the light inside it turned off. A second later smoke started coming out of the reactor as the core chamber opened. Tony opened the cigar box and took out a pair of small tongs. He pulled out the decayed core using the tongs before putting in a new core from the cigar box and placing the reactor back inside his chest. He then dropped the decayed core in Bruce's glass. Bruce picked up the glass and looked at the smoking core closely, covering his nose at the same time.

"You gonna say anything?" Tony asked.

"No," Bruce said. "I just need you to assure me that you will find a cure to it before it's too late."

"I have, actually, or almost," Tony said. "The Fury guy I mentioned? He gave me a shot of lithium dioxide. Although its effects weren't that long lasting I think I can make out something from it."

"I didn't mean a temporary solution," Bruce said.

"I don't have a permanent solution. At least not now," Tony said. "Although I did receive some things from Fury belonging to my father. He said that if I agreed to join his little program he would tell me the secret to my little jigsaw puzzle on my chest."

"I can only assume what you said back to him," Bruce said with a sigh. Tony smiled cockily. "This is your life we are talking about here, Tony. You don't have to throw it away."

"Why?" Tony asked.

"Because you are special," Bruce said.

"Don't talk like my father, Bruce," Tony said in a serious tone.

"I am not talking like your father because you didn't know your father," Bruce said, his voice also rising. Tony felt a shiver run down his spine when he heard Bruce deepening his voice at him. "You are not just you. People now look up to you, more than they did before. Before you were a genius kid's idol who wished to work under you some day. Today you are a hero."

"I don't want to be a hero!" Tony said loudly as he threw away his glass which shattered upon contact with the tiled floor. "Sorry," he muttered.

"You are still a child," Bruce said, "and I don't believe that I am saying this but I didn't expect some maturity from you."

"What you said, it hurt," Tony said. "You are like my father!"

Bruce didn't reply as Tony turned around and left the room with his case. Bruce stood back watching the closed door with a heavy feeling in his heart.

"You don't know how much I don't want you getting involve in a life like this," Bruce said.

 **00000**

 **A/N: I made some changes to my story from before and so I am posting this again with an almost new plotline with some difference from the last one….**

 **Thank you for reading…**


	2. Chapter 2

Fury looked at the sleeping body of the soldier the world had lost years ago in the ice. It had been a week since SHIELD had found him. It was a miracle that he was still alive but he also had a very precious drug inside his body that was responsible for his current state of being alive. Being in a stage of stasis, that, too, cryogenically it was only sensible that he hadn't woken up yet. They were slowly bringing up the temperature of the room where he was kept. Any sudden move could be catastrophic and that was something Fury did not want on his plate. He had waited a long time for this. He did not want anything to stop him from reaching his goal. If only that Stark would get the better image on his head. He really was a pain in the ass.

"Aren't getting cold?"

"I spent a great deal of time on the fields," Fury said, his eyes still on the sleeping figure. "Your case is different, though. I still wonder why I made you an agent of this organization, Coulson."

"I am what I am," Coulson said. "Anyways, we got eyes on him last night. We were right."

"After almost twenty years!" Fury muttered. "Guess he is as good as his predecessor. "What intel do we have on him?"

"Nothing yet," Coulson said. "All we now is he is a vigilante but unlike the Batman this one is not supported by the authorities of Gotham. They detest him."

"There has been a considerable rise in abnormal activities by many random people all over the country, too," Fury said. "The most recent one was the particle accelerator explosion in Central City."

"The speedster?" Coulson asked. "I don't think how a speedster can be helpful in our plans."

"With his quick speed?" Fury said turning towards his friend. "That guy can run across cities in mere minutes and he has grown stronger as per our intel. Something tells me that Speed is not his only power, though."

"You can do many things with speed like running atop a building, over water…"

"Or vibrate," Fury said. "We have information on him that he can vibrate himself at rapid frequencies."

"Meaning he can get out of any binds by just shattering them," Coulson said.

"Not just shattering," Fury said. "We learn from our various sources that he has recently learned a new technique he and his team call phasing. He vibrates his entire body at such high frequencies that he can just go through stuff!"

"Oh, how our world used to be a lot simpler a few years ago," Coulson said.

"Not the time to be sarcastic, Phil," Fury said. "How much longer till he awakes?"

"Still not sure," Phil said. "The serum inside his body acts up from time to time. We think it is because of the time he was in the ice and now he is not. The changes we are doing to his body is not on a continual basis. We have to take breaks, long breaks and that is costing us time."

"Indeed it is," Fury said. "What about the others, though?"

"We are still not sure about Banner. Natasha has headed for India as our intel last saw him in Calcutta," Phil said.

"Once she confirms his position give her a backup team," Fury said. "And increase the security of the teserract. Not knowing things make me tingle."

"We know that, sir," Phil said before taking his leave.

"We are waiting for you to wake up, captain," Fury said, looking at the sleeping figure as cold mist escaped his mouth. Rubbing his hands he exited the room leaving behind Steve Rogers sleeping. It would soon be time for him to wake up. Fury wondered whether the captain would be able to take in to the new world seventy years into the future.

00000

Coming home from work was always a good feeling. Seeing his mother, the one remaining person tying him to this world, always made him smile. She stood on the porch waving at him with a large smile on her face. He had expected that because he had been gone for years, working many different jobs to make his living and see the world. All those years he had understood this world a lot better.

"Look who's back," Martha said as she hugged her son as tightly as she could. "Were you okay out there?"

"I called you every night, mom," Clark said returning the hug.

"Well, you look rather different," Martha said, looking at her son's bright expression.

"I found something while I worked out there," Clark said.

"What did you find?" she asked.

"About my heritage," he replied, "And I found out who my father was."

00000

She wondered what Fury wanted from her when he sent her on one of the toughest missions of her life. Finding Banner was not difficult. She and her team always knew where he was. He was just hard to catch, always slipping off of their hands. Ross had really made him paranoid of always being followed. To be honest, Natasha really admired Banner's ability to slip away and be off the grid when needed. He had mastered an art many spies and agents took years to grab hold of. But tonight's mission was something she thought would not be possible to do.

She had been here countless times before, looking for him, to talk to him and to convince him to join their cause. Fury had showed a rather peculiar interest in this guy ever since he had lost the first one from this city. He won't let go of the second one.

It was a chilly night and from one of the dark, empty alleys she and her team of backup could see it on the roof of that tall building. The light was on, signaling him. Or probably telling the criminals on the streets that he was out there, on the streets, serving justice.

"We have visual," came a sound on her earpiece.

"Where?" she asked, pressing on her earpiece.

"Southbound. Three blocks from where you are right now. Over," the reply came.

"Team, we have a go," Natasha said. She then took out a small communicator as her team went ahead. Pressing a button she waited.

"What's the situation?" Fury's voice came from the other side.

"We got him," she replied.

"You've had him before, a lot of the times," Fury said. "Call me when you actually have him in on our terms or in our custody." The call was cut and Natasha let out a sigh, looking at the small communicator in her hand.

"Still don't trust me?" she said, looking at the communicator.

"He can't be blamed, you know," Came a voice on her earpiece. "We have failed to retrieve this guy many times before. We haven't succeeded even once with this man."

"Clint, focus on your work," she said before turning off the connection and preparing her electric batons. They glowed blue as they powered up. Each with 100,000 volts. She had wanted the powerful one but Fury had asked her not to. For some reason he wondered that this guy was a human. A plain, simple human.

Clint cut the call from his side and went back on looking at the target. The night vision enabled glasses of his showed him every detail but there was something missing – the target. "Shit," he cursed slowly, "not again." He reached for his earpiece, establishing a contact with his partner Natasha.

"I know," came her voice from the other side. "He is standing right in front of me," she said, looking at the guy in a black armored suit looking at her with a smirk on his face. "I've heard a lot about you," she said, looking at the guy. "Never really thought that I would be able to see you in person, though."

"Tell Fury that I am not available for his SHIELD membership," he said, taking Natasha by surprise but the trained spy never let it show on her face.

"You know a lot about things," she said.

"I make it my business to know when organizations like that come in my city looking for me," he replied. "Gotham is off limits. Tell Nick Fury that."

"Oh, he can hear you quite clear," Natasha said.

"I don't think so," the guy replied with a smirk, "and neither can your satellites track you at the moment."

"You are pretty resourceful for a single guy," Natasha said. "Who's your outsourcer?"

The guy didn't reply. He just looked at her with unfazed eyes. "Get off the streets. It's not safe."

"I can handle unsafe streets," Natasha said.

"I know," the guy said, "but these are the streets of Gotham."

"Oh, yeah. I forgot your town has a reputation," she said. By then she had received the signal on her earpiece. The men were in place. Clint had caught up to her and was now on one of the rooftops with his arrow pointed right at the target. "But I am sorry to do this," she said before raising her hand when multiple explosions took her by surprise. Everywhere around her small explosions happened all at once. The places that exploded brought a look of actual worry on her face when she was blinded by a smoke bomb. "Clint?" she said on her earpiece.

"He knew where we were," Clint said from the other side. "We are down."

"Anyone dead?" she asked.

"No but we definitely are immobilized," Clint replied. "Damn, this guy is good. "You have him?"

"He smoked me," she said, now wearing a pair of goggles that enabled her to see through the smoke. "And yes, he is gone."

"The cops have been dispatched," Clint said. "We have to go."

"Fury won't like this," Natasha said.

"Yeah, well, let him," Clint said in a frustrated tone. "We've been here many times and all we've are more injured agents. I hate to say this but I'm out."

"Oh, what a tempting thing to hear," Natasha said with a roll of her eyes as she cut the connection and evacuated the place as the cop cars arrived at the scene.

Standing at the roof of a nearby building, hiding in the shadows he looked at the cops searching the alleys. He knew the cops wouldn't find them. They had long since been gone. They were good, though, learning from their mistakes. Especially those two – Romanoff and Clint. He had looked at their background. One was a highly trained agent specializing in collecting 'packages' from hostile and enemy territories while the other was a trained assassin and a great spy. Bruce would've liked them, if he was interested, that is. "I do hope that you are," Blake said as he disappeared into the darkness of the night as the sun began to rise on the horizon.

00000

Barbra looked at the CCTV footages from last night as she sat in her room munching on a morning toast. She had her day off and her father was off to see some of his old buddies at GCPD so this had her opportunity to dig deeper into what had happened last night. Knowing hacking was pretty normal for her. She had shown an early interest in computers and programming when she was just four.

Typing in some root access codes she easily hacked into the surveillance systems of the city. Going through the index directory she finally found what she was looking at. She quickly made a copy of it before it could be made inaccessible for any other proxies. Closing off the portal she played the footage.

From what she could made from the video footage it appeared as if there was a squad of trained people. But they type of guns they were holding was a proof that they weren't from the state or the government. This was a private covert operation and perhaps the source of the series of small explosions that had happened last night. The police wasn't saying anything and she knew why. It involved him – the infamous vigilante of Gotham and the police didn't want to admit the fact that they still weren't close to catching him. Perhaps that was the reason why his father was called in today. The whole city knew how James Gordon was the greatest ally of the Batman. This would mean that her father might be aware of some of the vigilante tips and tricks the Batman and this vigilante had in common and that it would help the cops case him down.

"All these years and they still can't catch him," Barbra muttered as she looked at the footage. Opening her filtering software she played with the pixels of the footage to make it more clear. The soldiers or whoever these guys were had uniforms similar to the SWAT but they also had a very different patch on their arms. She looked for the symbol online but could not find it. That meant one of two things – they were either from an underworld organization or they were from some secret government organization. Anyway, it was a matter of seriousness. If they were here, looking for this vigilante guy then that meant that the savior of Gotham had caught the eyes of the national government and they were very serious to catch him. This was bad. Gotham was already under a rise in crime rate after the Batman had been killed in the nuke blast all those years ago. This guy was doing what he was entrusted to do, at least she thought of that.

She had never seen the Batman in real life. To the citizens of Gotham he was now only a legend who had sacrificed himself to save this city from the terror of Bane. It had been twenty years since that incident. This new guy was now the vigilante for almost the same time.

As she went through the footages of the last night's incident she saw the girl who was confronting the vigilante reach for her earpiece. It meant she was in contact with her people. Quickly tapping some buttons on her laptop Barbra tried to clear up the audio more. Using her skills she finally succeeded in identifying the frequency at which the girl might be talking but soon found out another frequency present in the area. Whose could it be? Tapping some buttons she started tracing the location of origin for the frequency and the result shocked her to the core. The signal had originated from Wayne Manor, or as it was called now the Wayne's home for Children.

00000

Accepting the deal was not a bad idea as Tony thought about it. This deal had brought him what he had desperately wanted. Now all he had to do was to figure out what his father had intended for him in that video he had recorded all those years ago.

"Jarvis, scan the entire model, make a representation of it," Tony said to his UI as he prepared to cure himself. "It's time to re-discover a new element."

00000

Blake watched the news as he took out his suit and placed it carefully in the case along with all his blades and weapons. "It attracted attention, last night."

Blake smiled as he turned around. "Never really thought you cared about me," he said. "What are you doing here, Bruce?"

"Came to see you," Bruce replied.

"Or you came to see how your investment is paying off," Blake said.

"Nightwing. Is that really what you call yourself?" Bruce asked.

"The people named me," Blake replied. "I still am an unnamed vigilante. There were people looking for me last night."

"The SHIELD agents," Bruce said as he made himself comfortable in the chair in front of a huge monitor. It was where he used to sit all those years ago. "This place brings back the memories."

"You know you can't come back," Blake said. "The batman is dead."

"Although I am not planning to come back, Batman is never dead. He never will be," Bruce said.

"Because you made him a symbol," Blake said. "If that is the case then why did you not let me wear your suit? Why this one? Why am I different?"

"Because you were not ready that time," Bruce said. "You had the training of a patrol officer."

"Then why did you choose me?" Blake asked. Bruce did not reply. "I get it. I was your only choice. With the city in chaos you had no one else to look at to carry on your work. Was it that or was it the fact that I knew your true identity?"

"I don't have to answer your questions," Bruce said. "How did your talk with Ms Romanoff go last night?"

"She is persistent," Blake said. "Although she failed again."

"With a reckless move that you pulled," Bruce said.

"But from the way you said it I think that is not why you are here," Blake said, already angry with the way Bruce was talking to him.

"Your frequency has been traced," Bruce said.

"Who?" Blake asked. "There's no one who can trace your frequency."

"That's true but I am not working anymore," Bruce said. "That means I am not upgrading the securities that made it necessary for me to be invisible to the radars. You are not paying enough attention, Blake."

"But the frequency can't be traced," Blake said.

"She's a girl," Bruce said. "And she is already here, looking for you. I just came to warn you. Go meet with her and settle the situation. This establishment is under your authority, after all."

"I know you are enjoying this," Blake said as he threw his cloak rather hard and left the cave.

"If you are caught then I will, too," Bruce said.

"Like the world would believe that a spoilt brat like you could be Batman," Blake said as he went away.

Bruce sighed as he looked at the screen. He pressed a button and the image of a girl appeared. "Your girl has skills. I'll give you that, Gordon," he said as he looked at Barbra's picture.

00000

Barbra sat in the tiny office that was in the huge hall as she looked around. The place definitely had lost its beauty. The Wayne Manor was among the nicest, most luxurious residents in the entire world but now it seemed to prove that fact wrong. Lack of funds and caretaking had definitely done its number of the place. Plus this was the children's home now. They would run around, breaking things. She had read once how Bruce had sold everything and the returns were given to his butler Alfred before the old guy had retired. He couldn't be alive now. His loyalty to the billionaire was a known thing. Many a times the butler had saved Bruce Wayne from embarrassing situations when he was a child, a teen and a young man. But she was not for that. She was here for something else.

"You must be Ms Gordon."

Barbra turned around and looked at the man. He appeared to be in his early forties. To think he was cute didn't feel weird at all to her.

"I'm Blake," Blake said as he brought forward his hand. Barbra shook it hesitantly as he sat down. "So, what brings you here, Ms Gordon?"

"I was wondering I could get a look around the place?" she said with heavy doubts in her voice. She had definitely not prepared how she would pull this through.

"May I know the reason?" Blake said with a straight face as he went through some files of his own.

"I was wondering if I could apply for an adoption," Barbra said.

"If that's the case then I would like you to step into my office, please," Blake said.

"I thought this was your office," Barbra said.

"It is. But children tend to get a bit sensitive when someone comes in here and then the children hear that those people are here for adoption," Blake said. "So, would you like to step into a more private office of mine?" Barbra nodded after a moment's hesitation. "Alright. This way please," Blake said as he got up and directed Barbra into a more private section of the floor.

This office had a look of privacy. Once she entered the room and Blake closed the door they were cut off by the noisy children. Blake took his seat as did Barbra. "So, why are you here?" he asked.

"I thought I told you," Barbra said.

"You don't look old enough to be having a parental responsibility," Blake said. "Also, your name seems suspicious and your face tells a different story. Not to mention your hesitation and the doubts that's been dripping down with your words. So, Ms Gordon, why don't you tell me why are you here?"

Barbra found no words to answer the question so she decided to do what she had come here for. "I've found something," she said.

"You've found something?" Blake said.

"You see, I'm good with computers and last night I found something."

"What did you find?" Blake asked.

"A frequency," she said. "A frequency similar to what was traced by me at a place where the incidents happened."

"What incident?" Blake asked.

"Don't play dumb," Barbra said. "You are him. The vigilante that has been operating in Gotham after Batman died!"

Blake sat there quietly, looking at Barbra with cold, hard stare that made the girl shift a little in her seat. "I don't know what you are talking about but here are a few things, Ms Gordon," Blake said. "First of all, that is a serious accusation. Second of all, you have no proof to claim your accusation. The third thing is even if by some chance that stupid thing turns out to be true you can be held in good for uncertified and illegal spying, which I don't know if it's true or not but if it is then it will be your headache. If Mr Wayne comes to know about this then he will be very pissed. This boys' home is his last way of honoring his parents. He wants to give these boys what they deserve – good food, good education, good environment. You step outside this place and the city is flooding with criminals and the corrupt. Inside here we have a chance of re-shaping this city with some good. That is Bruce Wayne's dream. That was what he had thought when he had opened this place for the city's at-risk and orphaned children. And now you come along, accusing me and in some manner this facility that we have been aiding an outlaw vigilante by helping him in some ways. Let me tell you, Ms Gordon, we have nothing to hide here but if you are adamant on keeping this up then I would request you to come here with a search warrant if you wish to keep this going. We would cooperate a hundred percent in your support."

"My skills don't lie, Mr Blake," Barbra said as she stood up. "What I found I am sure it is true. I don't know what your intentions are in protecting this guy but I am confident in myself. The frequency in which he was communicating had come from this place. If you want a warrant then I will have it with me the next time I come here. Thanks for your hospitality."

Blake watched as she left the room. He turned on the screen on his desk and saw her leaving the building through the surveillances. Just then his phone buzzed and he picked it up with a smile. "Don't tell me you are not pleased with this?" he said over the phone.

"If she persuades her father then getting the warrant won't be a problem for her," Bruce said from the other side.

"Why? Who's her father?" Blake asked.

"You are seriously not asking me that question, are you?" Bruce said but didn't get a reply. He grunted in frustration before answering. "James Gordon!"

Blake put down his phone as he sat there, thinking what he could do now if Barbra comes here the next time with an entire search party. James Gordon had the city's respect. The judge won't hesitate in giving him a warrant. The only thing was that how would Barbra persuade him to get her a warrant. But then again, the cave was completely secured from all sides. As he sat there thinking his phone buzzed again. It was a text from Bruce. Blake's face frowned as he read it. 'Upgrade the securities' the texts read.

00000

Happy watched the news on the TV. Tony was lucky he wasn't caught up in all of this. Ivan Vanko was arrested and so was Justin. Pepper was safe and was currently at Tony's. Tony had sent Happy his suit and had told him to keep it in his lab.

As Happy prepared to make his way out of the lab he noticed something on Tony's desk. It looked like some sort of agreement letter that Tony seemed to be going through. He picked it up and read the lines. It talked about some Avengers Initiative taking up by SHIELD. Happy didn't know what it was but Tony had signed the agreement. There wasn't much written on the document. It all seemed very classified. Having worked his share in the army Happy knew what was good and what was bad. For some reason he wasn't getting a good vibe from this agreement that Tony had signed in.

"Jarvis?" he called and the room lit up a bit more.

"Yes, Mr Hogan," Jarvis' voice echoed inside the lab.

What is it that Tony is going through?" he asked.

"Mr Stark has entered into an agreement with Nick Fury, the current director of Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division," Jarvis said. "I am not authorized to say anything beyond this to anyone as per under Mr Stark's orders."

"Well, that's some real pain in the ass," Happy muttered. "I am sure whatever it is Pepper won't like it."

"Are you going to tell her? Ms Potts?" Jarvis asked.

"If I do that how much do you think Tony will hate me?" he asked.

"I cannot calculate the emotional response," Jarvis said.

"After everything you do," Happy said as he gave out a chuckle. He put back the document on the table before making his way out of the lab.

00000

Bruce watched the events that had taken place tonight at Stark Expo. It was a close one but Tony and his friend had averted much of the damage that could have happened. But still there were losses of life. People had died and much was destroyed. It was all due to negligence and ignorance. Bruce had told Tony may times to mind his surroundings. It was something Bruce was taught by someone he now hated with everything in his blood. Tony would die with this kind of recklessness. As Bruce watched the footage his thoughts were proved right many times as Tony came close to death while he was chased by Ivan and Hammer's mechanical army.

"Things have started to change," he said, looking at the small picture of Alfred he had on his bedside table. "You were right, Alfred. You were right to predict about a time the world wouldn't need the Batman anymore. I could only hope you could've seen me giving up the cape and cowl. That was your final wish and I let you die without seeing that. What would you tell me now if you were here?" Bruce felt the heat of the tear streak that ran down his left cheek. He had missed Alfred. He missed him every hour of every day. "I was a fool to not listen to you when the time was right."

Placing the picture back on the table he turned around when something caught his attention. It was a familiar screeching sound but its presence at that place didn't make any sense. Turning around Bruce saw a small bat sitting at his open window looking right back at him. When Bruce looked at him the bat screeched again. "Shoo! Get out of here!" Bruce said loudly but the bat sat there. Bruce walked towards the small creature but the bat didn't budge seeing the large human coming towards it. Stopping by the window Bruce took a good look at the bat as the bat looked back at him. Suddenly the bat jumped at him. Bruce was taken by surprise as the bat attacked his face. Its wings which were surprisingly large considering the size of the bat itself enveloped Bruce's face completely as Bruce used both his hands to separate the crazy bat from his face. He pulled hard but it was as if the bat had latched itself on Bruce's face. Suddenly then Bruce felt something flowing. It was as if the bat was flowing on his face. The bat melted like a black slime as it covered every inch of Bruce's face and head. Bruce opened his mouth and screamed. Images of a little boy being attacked by a swarm of bats flashed in front of his eyes. He watched as the boy sat like a ball as the bats swarm around him. The boy had just witnessed his parents' funeral. The boy was him. He was him.

"Don't be afraid," Bruce said, looking at his smaller self but the child Bruce didn't listen. He was far more scared to pay heed to anything around him. He had his eyes closed shut. "Don't be afraid!" Bruce shouted this time. The boy looked up and their eyes met. But what Bruce saw shocked him to the core. There sat an eight year old Bruce wearing the same mask that had created the fear amongst the criminals of Gotham. There was that look behind that mask that sent shivers of chills to whoever felt victim to it. The young Bruce looked back at him with the same look. "You abandoned me!" he said in the same deep voice.

"No!" Bruce managed to say as the young Bruce got up and started walking towards him.

"You abandoned me!" the young Bruce screamed hard as Bruce shivered a little bit. Taking a step back he found himself in a puddle. When he looked down he saw that he was waist deep inside the small puddle. He recognized this place. Looking up he recognized it better this time. He was inside the Batcave. He tried to get up but found something was grabbing him from the bottom of the puddle. He looked down and found something staring back at him. It was him – in that mask and that suit. Bruce looked up to find there was no young Bruce Wayne. He found himself alone inside the Batcave, slowly being pulled inside the puddle by his alter ego. He tried to fight it, desperately trying to get himself out of the puddle. Nothing worked. He started to scream. No one heard him. Suddenly a sound distracted him as he looked towards the source.

It came from behind the water fall that served as the batmobile's and the bat's exit way. A swarm came from behind the fall. It was unlike Bruce had ever seen. The swarm of bats came right at him as Bruce prepared himself for the impact. He brought both his hands forward, trying to cover as much of himself as he could. This was after a long time that he was feeling desperate. As he prepared himself for the attack the bats attacked him.

The empty penthouse echoed with his scream as Bruce woke up from the bad nightmare. He was sweating badly. His shirt had gone wet. He looked around as he wiped a few drops off of his forehead. The TV was on showing the news about the incident that had taken place at the Stark Expo. Bruce stood up from the sofa and looked at the time. It was two in the morning. He looked outside the window. The streets of Gotham were asleep. He walked up to the window and looked outside at the skyline. That light was on, signaling the clouds above Gotham that the vigilante was awake and scrambling through the rooftops of the city.

What are you doing tonight, Blake?" Bruce said as a small bat passed his sight outside the window.

 **00000**

 **A/N: Thanks for reading…**


	3. Chapter 3

The recent events of New Mexico had the SHIELD agents swarming the place for any leftover evident that would lead them to procure evidence for the recent arrival of the Norse god. Jane Foster had been contacted by the agents along with Erik Selvig. The girl had not told them anything and had demanded to be released. Since SHIELD had already taken away all of her research data on wormhole and astrophysical anomaly she was in no mood to talk to any agent or part of it. They wouldn't tell her anything but they wanted to know everything she knew. She hated when the government did such sort of things. Finally Selvig had agreed to tell them everything in return of Jane's release. Jane had been traumatized when Selvig had proposed the offer. She looked at him with pleading eyes but Selvig remained adamant, telling Jane that her safety was paramount. Finally Jane had to let go as she was escorted out of the temporary facility. When she came out into the open she looked up at the sunny sky.

"Where are you now?" she said, still looking up as she was escorted to a car.

Eric sat inside the dark room which looked more like an interrogation room with the dim light hanging over his head when the door opened and Fury entered.

"Ah, Nick! I was wondering when you would show up," Selvig said seeing a familiar place.

"All these years and you still haven't changed, have you?" Fury asked as he sat facing the familiar man he knew since his college time. "How long has it been?"

"I lost count," Eric said. "You know, with all these researches and discoveries, keeping track of time is impossible."

"That doesn't explain why you look older than me?" Fury asked. "I looked at your picture a few months back and told my people that that man can't be you. You and I are about the same age. Tell me, Eric, how long has it been?"

Eric went silent at that question as he looked Fury straight in the eyes with no emotions on his face. "Would me telling that do you any good?" he asked. "You know I've got limited time. You know it can't be helped."

"We've all got limited time, Eric," Fury said standing up. The screeching of the chair echoed inside the small room. "We're all dying, just a bit slower than you are. But we can slow it down for you and you know it. You just weren't expecting that you would be offered this."

"What do you want to know?" Eric asked after a minute's pause.

"Everything that you know about that hammer wielding alien and the teserract that we just pulled out Arctic."

00000

Banner was reluctant. He had accepted the offer but he wasn't sure he would be welcomed considering his issue. Although he had come far with controlling his anger by being angry from the inside all the time he knew that anything could happen any time and he wasn't ready to take that chance.

Looking at the people around him he wasn't sure they were aware of his ability and if they were then they were being too casual about it. Which was probably a good thing? They weren't bothering him with useless and annoying questions. He was seeing such agents for the very first time in his life. Compared to Ross and his little troop these guys could be kept in the 'good people' category.

He looked at his left arm. The wound was still healing. For safety purposes he had to keep it tightly covered with lead laced bandages. Although it slowed the healing process down a bit it prevented – whatever it can – the wound from giving off tiny amounts of gamma radiation. The scar was from the fight he had two years ago with the army guy from Ross' team. It had a good outcome though. At least now Ross wouldn't do something without thinking. It was a shame that no one knew it was Ross behind the incident on that night.

"We're here," Coulson said as the jet started to land on a tarmac surface. Bruce looked out the window and froze. Were these people crazy? They were on an aircraft carrier in the middle of the unending ocean.

"Are you sure about this?" Bruce asked Coulson who was the only person who had talked to him ever since he had gotten on the jet.

"Completely, Dr Banner," Coulson said with a smile.

"But really, are you sure, you know with my condition, is it safe for people by making me stay on a carrier in the middle of the ocean?" Bruce asked.

"We have measures for that," Coulson said in the nicest way possible, making sure Banner didn't take it the wrong way.

"If you are so confident about it then I would like to see it," Banner said without hesitation. "You know, I can give you some pointers."

"That would be much appreciated," Coulson said as the jet landed softly on the tarmac and the hanger opened. "After you," Coulson said. "Director Fury has been waiting for you."

Bruce looked outside and saw a tall, black guy with a patch on one of his eyes standing unfazed, looking right at him. At once Bruce felt a bit intimidated. The guy looked serious, and scary to add it on.

Nick watched closely as his new asset came out of the jet with slow, careful steps, looking around, scanning his new surroundings. The guy was being careful. Not his problem as Fury thought about it. With everything that was going on in Banner's life Fury couldn't blame him. He completely understood the man.

'Hello, doctor," Fury said bringing forward his hand for a shake. Banner shook it slowly, still looking around with a doubtful eye.

"You must be Nick Fury," Banner said. "It is nice to meet you."

"I'm glad you feel that way," Nick said. "I see doubt on your face."

"Are you sure this is where you want me to work?" Banner asked.

"I suppose Coulson has already told you this that we have counter measures to your little problem," Fury said. "And I am not just talking about this facility."

"You have other people," Banner said as it dawned on him. A man with this much caliber and power would definitely have something or someone under him that could contain the hulk.

"Allow me to introduce you to someone," Fury said as he led him inside.

"Who?" Bruce asked.

"This someone shares a very important trait with you," Fury said as they now stood in front of a closed room. Fury knocked it twice and waited. The door was opened by a young man in his thirties. The man looked at Fury and frowned but then he looked at Banner and smiled, sizing him up. "Dr Banner, meet Steve Rogers, also known as…"

"Captain America," Bruce said as he brought forward his hands. Steve gave it a firm shake.

"I heard about you," Steve said stealing a glance at Fury who didn't respond. "I also say you in action."

"Hope I didn't damage my image in front of you," Bruce said with an embarrassed smile.

"I suppose you two share something common in yourselves," Fury said. Steve looked at Fury with a confused expression while Bruce knew that he was talking about.

"The super soldier serum," Bruce said.

"You have that, too?" Steve asked, completely surprised at that. "But then how are you different?"

"Because it was altered to maximum effect," Fury said as the three went inside the privacy of Steve's room.

"What changed?" Steve asked.

"Gamma radiation," Bruce said. "It was an accident, really. We hadn't noticed it until it was too late. Three men inside the chamber with me, they died."

"And you?" Steve asked.

"I was unlucky as well," Bruce said as he looked at the floor. "The serum got amplified and now it is in my blood."

"That was why those men were after you," Steve said with understanding remembering the footages of the hulk wrecking everything trying to run and fight a couple army troops.

"Which is not a case with you," Bruce said. "Dr Erskine developed the serum with complete efficiency and effect performance. The vita rays that you were subjected to did what it was supposed to do – make a perfect super soldier. I on the other hand was given the same serum but with a different altercation. The way I see it now if I had been subjected to the vita rays then it would have killed me."

Steve understood it completely. He was also afraid that time when he was undergoing the experiment. So he decided to change the topic, looking directly at Nick. "How many more?" he asked.

"Well if Dr Banner completely agrees to our terms then we have three on board, one of who is still a bit volatile."

"You're talking about Stark?" Steve asked with a smile. "I haven't seen him since I woke up. I thought it would be good to meet Howard's son. I wanted to know how much he turned out like his father."

"Oh, he is nothing like his father, I can tell you that," Fury said.

"Wait, what being on board?" Bruce asked.

"The Avengers Initiative," Fury said. "You were to be briefed by agent Romanoff but she didn't do it. in her defense she said it might've spooked you up."

"Trust me, Nick, it takes something to spook me up," Bruce said.

"That I know and that is why I know you will agree to our terms," Fury said.

"What is in it for me?" Bruce asked.

"You get to be free, here," Fury said. "You don't have to hide anymore from the people. Here you will be known who you are. Every single person working here knows who you are. They know what your…ability is and they know not to piss you off – intentionally or unintentionally. Out there you are living on your own. You have no work, no enough place to stay and you cannot interact with people on a normal basis. You get to decide."

"What if I stay?" Banner asked. "What are the conditions?"

"The Avengers Initiative was created for the safekeeping of the world," Fury said. "It took a long time. Howard Stark, Tony's father and Peggy Carter, an acquaintance of Captain here founded SHIELD with the purpose of gathering people with special abilities to come together and fight evil."

"And you are interested in the hulk and not me," Bruce said.

"Not entirely," Nick said.

"Well, it sounds that way," Bruce said, standing up. "You don't know the risks you have taken up by bringing me here."

"We are not interested in your angry friend but in your own skills," Nick said.

"And that is?"

"Specialization in gamma radiation," Nick said. Bruce had a confused look.

"The Red Skull," Steve spoke, gaining Bruce's attention, "the guy I fought back in World War II was looking for something. It was an alien object not from our world that held enormous power. He found it and used its power to create weapons."

"It is called the teserract," Fury said. "Captain and his team stopped Red Skull and collected it but then they had an accident."

"You went into the ice," Bruce said.

"We found Captain when we were looking for the teserract," Fury said. "It is currently on this ship."

"So where do you need me?" Bruce asked.

"The teserract emits low levels of gamma radiation. It is contained inside closed chambers and only you can work around it freely and you know a lot about it," Fury said. "We thought maybe you could come aboard and find out some unknown properties of the teserract."

00000

Steve looked at the picture when he was finally alone in his room. He had went to meet Peggy the moment he knew that she was still alive. He had met someone there that he thought he would never see. It was weird seeing her there but old memories had come up when Peggy had first introduced him to her. He hadn't found her there. He had thought that maybe she would be there with Peggy but she wasn't. But he probably knew why. Peggy was under a tight security. Not anyone could just meet her and being that old she was mostly asleep or under sedatives. She wouldn't know when Diana came to visit her so that she could tell the security to allow her in. but he knew Diana was keeping an eye on her. Mere agents of SHIELD were nothing in front of her. If she wanted to meet Peggy she could do so whenever she desired. And if that was the case then Diana was somewhere near the facility where Peggy was being treated.

"Why didn't you come to meet me?" Steve said as he looked at the picture of Diana before placing it with the picture of Peggy in his pocket compass that he had from his old days. Fury was at least kind enough to do that. He hadn't asked anything about who the second woman was in Steve's compass along with Peggy. If he had then it would've been a problem.

00000

The news about the teserract being stolen was a shock in itself. To say that one of his best agents was caught in the chaos was too much for Fury to take in.

"What happened?" Fury said as soon as he entered the meeting room where only the highest of officials of SHIELD were present.

"Sir, the teserract is missing," one of the officials said.

"And how is that?" Fury asked.

"We had a mole," the same official said. "It was Barton…"

"Clint won't do that," Natasha said at once. "He is too good to do something like that. He is a true agent."

"What else?" Fury asked, shifting his gaze from Natasha to the official.

"We confirmed his sighting," the official said. "Loki."

"Then it is not agent Barton's fault," Fury said. "We have intel from the New Mexico incident that Loki, Thor's brother has the ability to control people's minds. And now all I can presume is that he has the teserract?"

The official nodded.

"Prepare a team and send them to the location," Nick said. "Gather everyone around." He looked at Natasha. "Inform Banner, Rogers and Stark. I think it's time we see what we invested in." Natasha nodded before exiting the room.

00000

"Dr Banner?" Natasha said as she entered inside his lab.

"Yes?" Banner asked, looking up from a series of holograms in thin air.

"We have a situation," Natasha said.

"I believe I know what the situation is," Banner said. "I just got a ping of gamma radiation from Munich, Germany."

"Yeah, that is what I am here about," she said. "Fury's orders – he wants you in the meeting room ASAP."

"Why?" he asked.

"Only he can tell you," she said before taking her exit.

"Well, I hope it's not something related to the other guy," Banner muttered before standing up and starting to change into some decent clothes.

00000

Bruce looked at the news. It was the exact same of what had happened in New Mexico. A giant light beam had occurred out of nowhere and then a person appeared from it. Agents swarmed that place right now but from the astrophysical data that Bruce's satellites had been able to gather the results had not shocked him. His suspicions were right. It was all alien. But to what extent he didn't know and that annoyed him.

Changing the channel he saw every news had the same story – a group of people taken hostage by a guy in weird outfit with long horns on his helmet. He definitely looked weird – even weird than the Batman. Bruce's satellites were also showing him a rise in radiation level. It could either be the alien itself or the staff that he currently had. Some more digging resulted in gamma radiation. It was of low level but a danger nonetheless.

Suddenly a man had arrived wearing an American uniform. Bruce had immediately recognized the outfit. He had heard stories about this guy from his father and grandfather when he was very small. There were also news rumors that the government had succeeded in finding him out. So he was not dead, after all these years. These things worried Bruce. Things he couldn't understand. He tapped some buttons, going to his satellite view instantly. Now he didn't have to rely on news footages to get some idea of what was going on in Germany.

The uniformed guy was giving a tough challenge to the alien and then he was joined in by Stark and a jet ship from which she had emerged – Natasha Romanoff. Bruce frowned. He didn't like her. Every move of her spoke of a secret that she didn't want to reveal to anyone. He wondered whether her employer knew everything about her. Bruce wouldn't be surprised if he didn't. But she was good, Bruce had to admit that.

The three had managed to capture the alien successfully and without any damage but that was definitely deliberate. It was a move Bruce was too well aware of. The alien had a plan. The sinister look on his face said it all.

Tapping in some keys into his super computer Bruce looked into the gathered data from his satellites. It was a minute later that he picked up something similar and this had him worried. A new breach had opened similar to the one from which the alien had emerged and this time a guy came out of it. he had a red cape and a hammer in his hand. His armor felt ancient and runic.

"What the hell is going on?" Bruce muttered as he pressed some buttons, doing all he can to gather as much data as he could. The air around this new breach was rippling with electricity. At least the electricity wasn't alien.

00000

To say that they weren't surprised when a guy had entered their jet out of nowhere and had abducted Loki and had gone, they would be lying to themselves.

"I think I've seen enough weird things for one day," Natasha said as she looked at the place where Loki was standing a moment ago.

"His name is Thor," Coulson, who was flying the ship, said. "He has come here before."

"The New Mexico incident," Stark said, remembering from the information Fury had provided him after he had joined the Avengers. "He is his brother, Thor."

"Well, that clears one thing," Steve said as he put his shield on his back and then took a parachute from the hanger. "He is here to take him away."

"I wouldn't exactly say that," Tony said. "From what we know those two don't get along very much."

"But that doesn't mean he can take away other people's stuff," Natasha said. Steve seemed to comply with her because he had already jumped out of the jet.

Tony sighed as he stood up. "Old guy doesn't know to be patient," he said before flying out of the jet.

00000

Looking at the news he frowned. Out of nowhere there was security all over the city. He wondered what could be the reason when it was revealed to him. Out of nowhere it opened in thin air from nothing but a light blue beam coming from the top of Stark Tower as the news showed some amateur's recorded video. What came out of that breach was a flock, or rather an army of aliens riding on something that looked like a flying jet ski. Within minutes New York was a city of chaos as those aliens destroyed anything that they saw. He pressed the button on his telephone and a moment later his secretary entered.

"Yes, sir?" she asked.

"How many of our people are there in New York at the moment?" he asked.

"The building was off because of the temporary adjustments that you had asked for," she said. "We have no idea how many are stuck but the authorities are trying their best to evacuate the people out of the city."

"Does it look like they are able to do it?" he asked, his voice now shaking with anger as he looked with scathing eyes at the screen. "I want to know what is going on in that city. Get me anything you find. NOW!"

"Yes, Mr Luthor," she said before taking her leave, knowing full well how her boss' anger was. She never wanted to be someone responsible for it – directly or indirectly.

00000

"There doesn't seem to be an end to this," Clint said as he shot arrows after arrows at the chitauri knowing full well that his shots were limited. This was the very reason he had brought simple arrows with nothing but explosive tips. They did the job and losing much of them didn't felt bad. But he also had some rather bigger shot arrows which he wanted to save for later.

"We need to do something about the portal," Steve said through the comms. "Fighting them means nothing if they keep on coming. We will run out eventually."

"I'm heading for the Stark Tower," Natasha said. Selvig is there. He'd recognize me."

"Do you have a way of closing it?" Steve asked.

"I'll find one," she said as she turned towards Steve. "Wanna give me a lift?" she asked.

He looked at her and then to the sky, waiting for a moment. "Get ready, here it comes," he said as Natasha ran towards him. He brought his shield forward as she jumped on it. Steve pushed hard, throwing her high up in the air. She caught one of the chitauri and was lucky she had her electric gloves on. Hijacking an alien ride was a feat in itself.

Tony was struggling with the huge alien-worm-ship like thing. He had no idea what it was but it served for some kind of a collective point for the chitauri. They were coming out of it and the damaged ones were going back inside it. It made one thing clear for Tony that this thing needed to be brought down but the problem was none of his weapons were working affectively on it. Although, he had two which could work on this thing. One was a small nuke that only looked small but was devastatingly dangerous to any and everything in its blast radius. Tony knew he wouldn't use that in his right mind. The other was a pair of piercing lasers, each on either of his arm regions. But those were just one shot. So he was saving them knowing full well that there could be more like this thing on the other side of the breach. Maybe he could fire up his nuke towards the breach. It would destroy everything on the other side. But then the radiation from the blast would spread throughout the city and people weren't completely evacuated.

No. He had to find another way. He was running out of ideas and power as well. He didn't know how much longer his suit was gonna keep going. He had no extra back at his place either. He hadn't got enough time to make a new suit after his fight with Vanko. That alone had left his suit in much damage and repairing it had taken up almost all of his time. He hated situations like this, knowing that he had no options on his hands, that he couldn't do anything. He looked down at the destroyed streets of the city. Bodies lay everywhere. Many were dead, many were injured. The authorities were doing everything in their power to evacuate the people out of the city. Suddenly then something rumbled through the sky.

"Sir, the readings are similar," Jarvis said, "and you may not like this."

Tony looked up and to his horror a hoard of chitauri emerged from the portal and behind them were those huge ships that were carrying more chitauri inside them. He had no idea what he would do. What they would do. There was no way they could pull this off with a success. They were going to fail. They were going to die. Earth would fall today. He closed his eyes when a familiar roar was heard on his earpiece.

Steve and Thor looked at the direction of the roar and they couldn't help but smile. Even though he was leaving a trail of destruction behind him his timing couldn't have been better. "We should probably move out of his way," Steve said.

"We should," Thor said, knowing completely well how tough an opponent Banner was. He ignored them both as he passed them both and headed directly towards one of the huge ships. Neither Thor nor Steve knew what Banner would do. He was never in his right mind in this state but what they saw had them shocked. They had no idea he would do that and it would work.

Banner hadn't stopped as he charged with mad rage towards the target. A huge jump threw him in the air, bringing him high enough to land his infamous smash as the single punch brought the entire ship down with all the chitauri inside it. it crashed rather hard with half of it exploding due to the impact.

"Guys," Natasha's voice was heard over the earpiece.

"Natasha?" Steve answered.

"I don't know what happened here but Loki is down," she said. "It looked like he was thrown from one side to another like a rag doll and is currently unconscious."

"We may have a rough idea of who it was," Thor said with a knowing smile as he looked at Banner beating the crap out of the fallen ship.

"Can you close the portal?" Steve asked.

"Selvig is here. I think he can," she said from the other side.

"Well, hurry. I'm running out of arrows," Clint said.

"You are never practical," Natasha said over the comms.

"Says the lady with guns," Clint said.

"Alright, everyone, we need to keep going until Natasha closes the gate," Steve said.

"Where is Banner?" Tony asked over the comms. "I'm bringing him a present."

The crushing of the buildings was enough for Steve and Thor to know what Tony meant by the word 'present'. The sound had also gained Banner's attention as he left the completely destroyed ship and headed for the three that were tailing Tony's Iron Man.

00000

He looked at the news. This was bad. Those people were not enough, especially in front of a threat that didn't seem to end. So there was another life form outside this world, outside his world. That seemed to reassure him a little bit but this life form wasn't something to be seemed pleased at. He knew he now definitely had to go when he felt the hand on his shoulder.

"You know your part in this," she said. "I know it kills you even today when he told you not to save him when you easily could. He had a choice. Those people don't. Remember you told me what your house stood for back in your world? Show them that. Be that symbol for the people of this world."

He turned to look at her. There were tears in her eyes. She was sad because he had to go. Although she knew he wouldn't be in much danger but she was his mother. Mothers were supposed to worry about their children. He hugged her closely, feeling her heartbeat that had slipped up a little. She was worried. She was worried for him.

"You go. You go and save those people, Clark," Martha said as they broke the hug. Clark looked at her, giving her the reassurance that he will be back to her when the threat had gone.

00000

The footages from his satellites told him only bad things as Bruce looked at the ongoing incidents of New York City. It was the closest city to Gotham. There was a threat that if these aliens had attacked there then their next target could be Gotham. Gotham wasn't prepared for this level of attacks. Aliens! Who could've thought one day Aliens would invade earth. His phone rang and the name on the screen made him frown further.

"Are you watching this?" Blake said from the other side. "What are we supposed to do?"

"We do nothing," Bruce said. "There are people gathered together for this kind of jobs."

"Yeah, and I could've been one of those people," Blake said.

"But you aren't," Bruce said. "Besides, you don't work outside the jurisdiction of Gotham."

"And what happens when we are next?" Blake asked.

"We fight it…with whatever we've got," Bruce said, cutting the call as he looked at the screens. "Who would've thought we'd be visited by aliens one day?" he said to himself. "I don't know what you'd have said watching this, Alfred?"

00000

The situation seemed hopeless. It was hard for Selvig to determine a way to close the portal. He was working hard on the schematics of the portal generator but the technology was alien. Thankfully he had an experience with that type of technology before but it was very less compared to the task that was in front of him. This was different, totally different.

"We need to close it fast, doctor," Natasha said.

"Doing my best here," he said. "This isn't my specialty."

"But you made it," Natasha said.

"Under Loki's mind control," Selvig said when he realized something. "Loki's staff! Bring me Loki's staff!"

Natasha knew clearing her doubts would not be a wise thing right now so she ran back inside where Loki still lay unconscious. Fortunately Banner hadn't thrown away his staff. It was lying a few meters away from Loki. She picked it up carefully, knowing the things that staff was capable off. She didn't want to set something off unknowingly. She went back to Selvig who had figured out how to close the portal.

"The energy field around the emitter can be penetrated by this staff, if I am not wrong," Selvig said. "There is a notch which has to be turned in order for the machine to close off the portal," he said, showing Natasha the notch. "Let's try this, shall we?"

Natasha looked at Selvig before going on the comms. "Anyone listening? I know how to close the portal."

"Not now!" Tony's voice rang in.

"Why?" Steve said.

"There's a bogey coming right towards this city," Tony said. "It is nuclear and I know just where to put it…." the tackle that he received from the chitauri ship knocked him unconscious. He fell from a rather tall height, creating a crater where he landed.

"Tony!" Steve's voice rang on the comms. Natasha looked towards the city, figuring out where Tony had landed. There were still three chitauri ships hovering around the city so Tony could be near any one of them.

"Guys, he's not responding," she said. "Clint, do you have visual?" she asked.

"Negative," Barton said, looking through his sharp eyes wherever he could.

"Fury, Find him with the tracker," she said over the comms.

"Already did," Fury said. "He is at the 24th street but you have to be fast. The bogey is ETA one minute….I'm picking something up."

"What?" Clint asked.

"Something's heading towards the city very fast," Fury said, already frowning over the unknown bogey.

Suddenly one of the ships was tackled hard which threw it towards the sea.

"Did you see that?" Barton said over the comms.

"I'm gonna take a look," Thor said as he started to rotate his hammer and was in the air a moment later. By this time Steve was by Tony's side and was trying to wake him up. Thor hammered away whatever chitauri came at him. Whoever this new guy was he was fast…and strong. Taking down an entire ship just by one attack was something even Thor had to condemn over. Suddenly the other ship was knocked out of thin air and headed towards a set of buildings. Thor knew this would end bad if that thing crashed with those buildings but then it stopped mid-air. Thor looked closely to see there was a man dressed in blue with a red cape holding the tail section of the ship. That guy did not just hold the entire ship by its tail! Thor was amazed at the strength of this new comer. Maybe he was also a part of the Avengers. Thor had made it out that the Fury guy was a secretive guy and if he had sent this new guy then Thor wasn't surprised. But this guy's strength had earned him Thor's respect and Thor wanted that guy to know. The guy swung the ship like it was a rag doll and threw it high up in the air when Fury's voice came on the comms.

"The nuke is seconds away from the city get out of there," Fury said.

"But there are still civilians," Steve said.

"No time to save everyone," Natasha said. "If we have no chance of shifting that nuke towards the portal then I'm closing it."

"No! Wait," Thor's voice came over.

"Thor?" Steve said. "We don't have time!"

Thor didn't reply but looked as the newcomer fired red beams from his eyes that cut the ship in half. He then flew towards the direction of the nuke and caught it gracefully so that it didn't feel the impact of being stopped suddenly and then guided it towards the opening of the portal.

"On my mark, close the door," Thor said.

Natasha responded positively as they all saw the nuke heading towards the portal. Whatever chitauri came towards the nuke and the new guy, Thor shocked them away with his attacks. Once the nuke was lined up perfectly the guy let it go.

"Close it!" Thor said as soon as it disappeared inside the portal. Natasha turned the key and the portal was closed off.

00000

 **A/N: Thanks for reading….**

r


	4. Chapter 4

Fury was furious, but not on his newly assembled team but on the board he had so trustingly formed. They had denied his wishes, didn't even heed towards it and had fired a powerful nuke towards half populated city with a blind hope that it will take out the enemy. Fortunately the Avengers and the new hero had saved the day. Especially the new hero had saved the day. He had saved them all. He had saved the Avengers and the city from the human error. He was also kind enough to come on board the SHIELD facility with Fury hoping that he would be able to get some time of this guy before the board comes to know about him and get him in their clutches.

Thor had shown an early interest in the guy. He was impressed by his strength and speed. He was also recognizing the symbol on the guy's chest but not completely.

Clark was silent, knowing full well who these people were. He had seen them while he was on work around the world. Tony Stark, the renowned billionaire and philanthropist, also known as Iron Man. Clark had recognized Banner after a while. He then remembered there was news about a green monster wreaking havoc a few years ago in New York. He also recognized Steve Rogers a.k.a. Captain America. He had learned about him in his History books. Every kid knew who Captain America was if that kid had read about the Second World War. Whom Clark didn't recognize were the guy with arrows and a rather techy bow, a woman with red hair and black dress and a tall guy with red cape just like him and a hammer. He was just as tall as him. Clark had seen him fight those aliens. It seemed that his power was electricity which he manipulated through his hammer.

"Welcome to SHIELD," Nick Fury said as he, the Avengers and Clark were inside the privacy of a secure room. "On behalf of all the Avengers and SHIELD alike, I would like to extend our gratitude towards what you did out there." Clark smiled but it was short lived. "So, why don't you tell us who you are and where were you hiding all these years? It bugs me that we couldn't find someone like you on our radar."

"Radar?" Clark asked.

"He means his agents…and his one eye," Tony said only to receive an angry look from Fury.

"We are really grateful for you helping us out there," Steve said, bringing forward his hand. "Thanks, again…"

Clark knew what the deliberate pause was. They didn't know his name. What he was thinking was whether or not to tell his real name. That would be problematic. He was wise enough to know that these people hadn't reveal their true name, except for Tony Stark, Steve Rogers and probably the guy with the hammer. The others, Clark knew, had some sort of a name that they went by. Finally he decided to not reveal his true identity.

"I'd rather not say it, my name," Clark said. Fury frowned but understood completely, but that would make it difficult for him to know more about this guy. A guy with such powers need to be known and monitored.

"Then tell us your superhero name," Tony said.

"Superhero name?" Clark asked.

"Yeah. Like my name is Iron Man," Tony said, pointing towards himself and then he pointed at the others. "His name is Captain America, which I still think is a bit funny…" Steve gave him a look, "…His name is Hulk…"

"I'd like to say that I don't think of it as my 'superhero' name," Bruce said, making quote marks on the word superhero."

Tony then pointed towards Clint. "He goes by the name of Hawkeye."

"My field partners nicknamed me," Clint said, raising his hand a little.

"She is Natasha Romanoff, a Soviet agent turned American…I think," Tony said, receiving a narrowed look from her. "I still wonder what her real name is. A word of advice…don't trust her."

Clark smiled sheepishly as he looked at her giving dangerous looks towards Tony.

"And he is Thor, a Norse god, lightning controller and wielder of a hammer," Tony said, giving a solid pat on Thor's back.

"Norse god?" Clark asked.

"I am Thor, son of Odin," Thor said, bringing forward his hand. Clark gave it a firm shake. "I can't seem to remember where I've seen that symbol before."

"You don't seem to remember where you saw an 'S'?" Tony asked.

"What do you mean not remember?" Clark asked.

"I know I've seen it somewhere in my previous years when I used to go with my father to visit different planets of the Nine Realms," Thor said.

"Planets?" Clark asked, looking at Tony and others for a little clarification because Thor seemed to be lost in his own world of thoughts.

"He is an alien…a good alien," Tony said. "Probably the ruler of his world."

"My father is the ruler, not me," Thor said. "Although I am next in line and that doesn't sit well with Loki." He looked at Clark who had a confused look on his face. "He is my brother."

"He is the one who attacked New York today," Tony said.

"He's adopted," Thor said slowly, shifting a bit farther from the rest when he remembered. "The Els! That is the sigil of House El of Krypton!"

Clark had not expected this. This guy knew his people. But while it was a good thing that Clark had founds someone who knew his people and his planet he didn't want it to be revealed this way, especially in front of people he had just met. But Thor didn't seem to understand this as he went ahead and hugged Clark real hard, although the Kryptonian hardly felt it.

"Haha! How are your people?" Thor asked. "We haven't visited Krypton in many times now! Especially with some rebellion races fighting against us. We've been quite busy for some times."

"Wait a minute," Natasha said, understanding firsthand what Thor meant when he said those words. "The way you said it, Thor, is Krypton another planet?"

That had everyone's attention, especially Fury's. If that was true then there was another alien amongst them now. Damn their world seemed so small now. They all now had their attention towards Clark who was looking at Thor with a weary look.

"How do you know about my world?" Clark spoke, unknown that he was being watched by others inside the room. He was too emotional at the moment to care about something else. This guy knew his people, people Clark himself knew nothing about except for a few things his father's consciousness had told him.

"Well, how can't i?" Thor said. "It comes under one of the worlds of the Nine Realms. It comes under our jurisdiction."

"Jurisdiction?" Clark asked.

"We govern over a part of the universe, the Nine Realms," Thor said. "Your planet comes under that. So how are your people?"

"They are all dead," Clark said. "My planet was destroyed years ago."

No one was ready for that, especially Thor. The news about Krypton's destruction wasn't something he had anticipated. He placed a hand on Clark's shoulder, giving him a sympathetic look which Clark ignored.

"So how did you survive?" Fury asked.

"I was sent away by my parents," Clark said, knowing that it was no point in hiding anything from these people now that they knew that he was from another planet. "My father was a scientist," he said, looking at Thor, "His name was Jor El. What I know from my father's conscious is that during its last times my planet was on the brink of collapse because its people had used up almost all of its core as resources. The core had, thus, become unstable and had led to my planet's destruction. My father had foreseen this and had tried to warn the government of my planet but they hadn't listened. So, my father sent me here."

"Just you?" Banner asked.

"He didn't have enough time to build a ship for all of us, for my family so he built one just big enough for me," Clark said.

"Why here?" Fury asked.

"This planet's atmosphere was almost similar too mine," Clark said, although I had difficulty at the beginning as my mother used to say."

"Your mother?" Tony asked.

"My mother who adopted me after I came too this planet," Clark said. "The story is a bit long…"

"We've got time," Fury said immediately. "We've got all the time in the world."

Clark looked at them and sighed. "I understand that this…whatever this is…this SHIELD and Avengers thing, I hope you can provide my mother safety after knowing me? I guess you all understand why I am asking this?"

"We do," Clint said, sharing a look with Fury.

"We do," Fury said after exchanging glances with Barton and Natasha.

"I landed in a small farming town of Smallville, Kansas," Clark said. "I was just an infant and this old couple found me. They were farmers, my adoptive parents."

"Nobody showed at your doorstep, looking for an alien bogey?" Tony asked, knowing full well that SHIELD was operative at that period of time. SHILD had come into existence two years after the Second World War. They could've noticed an alien object entering earth's atmosphere.

"Which reminds me," Thor objected with a doubt of his own, "I went with my father to Krypton when ii was small. I don't remember your people being this strong. I mean, you punched that chitauri ship like it was nothing and then you lifted it and threw it away as if it weighed nothing. Your physiology is almost as similar to that of the people of Earth. You people weren't as strong as how much you are now. What happened?"

"From what I've learnt from my father's conscious," Clark said, "we Kryptonians have cells capable of absorbing the radiation of the sun. I remember my father telling me in his conscious that I would grow stronger on this planet because this planet has a younger sun, far younger than the sun of Krypton, that my cells would absorb its radiation. This was one factor that had made him sent me here so that I would have a better chance of survival."

"So you absorb sunlight, like plants," Tony said.

"I guess you can say…that," Clark said.

"So what, does your power vanishes when the sun goes down?" Bruce asked.

"No…it's not like that," Clark said. "Even though I don't know my own potential but I think at night I will be at a disadvantage because of the absence of the sun, I guess?"

"Don't mind but we would like to know more about you," Fury said. "With you being an alien I hope you understand that."

"As long as my conditions are met," Clark said.

"Which we will discuss in a private room," Fury said, knowing his words won't be unheard by anyone in the room.

"So does that mean he is joining the Avengers?" Banner asked.

"I never agreed to that," Clark said.

"And I never said it either," Fury said. "We just need to know more about him, as much as he is allowing us to know. I hope he will give us his help whenever we need it?"

"I would," Clark said, his face missing an expression. He had heard Fury's heartbeat. There was a speed-up there for a moment. Clark wasn't surprised when Fury said he wouldn't be bothering him. With a man like Fury believing his words would be an act of foolishness.

"I would love to talk to you sometime," Thor said, giving Clark's shoulder a firm pat, "but right now I need to take my brother and give him the justice of our world. It was nice working with you all my new friends," he said, looking at the rest of them. "I hope we will meet again sometime."

"You are not staying?" Tony asked.

"No, I need to take away Loki with me," Thor said. "The longer he stays outside the jurisdiction of my world the more risky it is with him. You know, he is him, Loki."

"Can't disagree with you on that one," Barton said, looking at Natasha.

"If you don't mind, we would like to have his staff," Fury said.

"Oh, keep it. I suppose Loki won't mind," Thor said. "Just give me the teserract. It belongs in the great library of the nine realms. I still need to figure out how it came here."

Fury thought it was a good deal. Besides, Captain and others were already against SHIELD keeping the teserract. They had a rather loud disagreements with Fury over this while Loki had attacked New York. Having the staff in exchange wasn't such a bad deal. It was an alien object and appeared to be pretty powerful with Loki performing mind controls with it and many more things. Fury knew he could get a lot of things out from that staff. Perhaps a new weapon that would prevent earth from an attack like today.

"I need to ask you something," Natasha spoke, gaining everyone's attention. "You said your father's conscious. What did you mean?" she asked, looking towards Clark.

"I cannot tell you that," Clark said.

"The man has his reasons, Agent Romanoff," Fury said. "I think everything will be revealed to us with time. Am I right?"

"Of course," Clark said. "With time."

00000

It was a great opportunity as Lex thought about it when his package arrived at his private quarters. With the amount of aliens that had fell from the sky a week ago no one had kept record of how many aliens had attacked the city. Unfortunately Lex Corp hadn't been able to get its hands on one of those huge alien ships that had wreaked havoc in New York but something was better than nothing.

He looked at the truck full of alien carcass. His people had managed to get some of those staff things those aliens had used as their weapons when attacking the city. Lex rubbed his hands together in excitement as he looked towards his secretary. He was going to be quite busy for a few days.

00000

"What do you think?" Bruce said as he showed the package he had received from Tony to Lucius.

"Alien," Lucius Fox said as he looked at the pictures that Bruce had brought him in his hospital room. "Tell me something, Mr Wayne, why are you interested in things like this? I thought you had given it all up?"

"Have you seen things like this?" Bruce asked. "It is like never before. We just had aliens invade our world. When did that happen?"

"And you think you can stop them?" Fox asked, worry clearly written on his face.

"Blake called me that day when New York was being attacked," Bruce said. "If those aliens wouldn't have been stopped then our city could've been next."

"But they were stopped," Fox said. "We now have people capable of stopping an alien invasion. What difference could you have made being there?"

"I am not talking about me here, Lucius?" Bruce said, his voice becoming a bit deep with anger.

"With the way you worry it sure looks that way," Lucius said.

"Worrying is understandable when there is a threat like this a few steps away from your doorsteps!" Bruce said. "To think that we had aliens attack us a week ago still doesn't seem believable."

"To be honest, Bruce," Fox said, "You and I and everyone in this city has seen things far crazier and weird than an alien invasion."

Bruce smiled at that. "Those were the days when all we had to worry about were exploding wind-up penguins."

"And circus freaks wreaking havoc in the city. Gotham still has reputation of being one of the most dangerous cities in the country," Fox said. "The things you dealt with as Batman and as Bruce Wayne before you became a vigilante…I don't have to tell you the effect those experiences would have on one person mentally and physically. Those heroes who just saved the world today, they have no idea what you and this city went through when superhero was just in some comic book. The Batman was so much effective for a city like Gotham that people today think of the Batman as a myth!"

"That's right, Lucius," Bruce said as he got up and went up to the window to look at the Gotham skyline. "Batman is just a myth."

"And how many times do you tell yourself that?" Fox asked.

"Just enough to make myself remember the promise that I made," Bruce said.

"Which was?" Fox asked.

"Never again."

Neither of them spoke for some minutes as Bruce watched the city from inside the hospital room and Fox watched Bruce just standing there. It was hard to see Bruce as this old man with a cane in his left hand. He was such a strong man that once had Gotham completely under law and order. With a city like this it didn't need a superhero. It needed someone like the Batman. Everyone who had seen the Batman and had lived the era of twenty years ago they would all agree with it. Unfortunately there weren't much good people left from that time period and with the bad people whom the Batman and his small team had helped captured, most of them had already died due to old age and illness. Those who remained were still treated in Arkham which was now owned by Wayne Enterprises.

"How's Luke?" Bruce asked, waking up Lucius from his thoughts.

"Luke's fine," Fox said. "He got himself in Navy last month."

"I heard," Bruce said. "Good for him. He was always a fighter."

"Yes, he was," Fox said.

"What about his friend?" Bruce asked.

"He is now a famous player in the Rogues," Fox said.

"Gotham's football team? Good for him," Bruce said. "Well, neither yours nor Silas' sons turned out like their fathers."

"They had their dreams," Fox said. "It is good to live your dreams. How is Blake? Do you see him much?"

"No," Bruce said.

"He was the one who connected with you immediately when Gotham was under Bane's rule all those years ago," Fox said. "You gave him your mantle."

"He is good," Bruce said. "He is doing what he chose to do."

"His was a kid's dream that got fulfilled," Fox said. "The only difference is that he was a bit smarter than the rest of the kids."

Bruce smiled as he looked at the light that signaled the Nightwing. "Well, he is keeping the streets safe for the time being."

"Which is about twenty years now," Fox said. "He has been working almost as long as you. When are you going to recognize that in him?" Bruce didn't answer. "He looked up to you as a kid and as a young man. He still looks up to you. Something tells me that even though you hung up your cape and cowl something inside you longs for that experience even now. And if that is true then I would like you to share your experiences with Blake. Tell him about your days of being the Batman. You can't do this anymore, Bruce. I know you need someone to tell you that because you are losing this battle all by yourself. I know even though you don't tell me or others. I've seen you ever since you were a small boy. I've been there for you just like Gordon had…just like Alfred had." Bruce turned to look at him. "You don't have to fight it alone. You know that. You are not alone, Bruce. You never were. Give us a chance to help you or your anger and hate will be your own demise. You are no longer strong enough to keep those two enemies of you at bay anymore."

 **00000**

 **A/N: Thanks for reading…**


	5. Chapter 5

"Never knew things could change this much," he said, looking at the screen.

"Oliver, you don't have to worry about it that much," Felicity said.

"Worry? Do you see the dead and injured?" Oliver said.

"Yes, but the threat was stopped."

"But at what cost?" Oliver asked. "What if it had been Star City? What then? How long do you think we'd have stood against them?"

"Then we'd have help," Felicity said.

"From whom? Barry? Palmer and his team?" Oliver asked. "I hardly think their presence would've mattered much."

"Then how much it would've mattered just because of you?" Felicity asked a direct question. Oliver looked at her. She was right. While Ray had his whole team of supers with him and Barry with his speed force which Oliver hardly knew nothing about he knew him being there, with them, fighting against the enemies wouldn't have mattered much. What could a guy with a bow and arrow do? "You are underestimating yourself, the Legends and especially Barry," Felicity said. "And if it makes you feel better, there was another guy with bow and arrows fighting off the aliens. And he got every shot right."

"He is an agent, an assassin from the way he fought and moved," Oliver said, having already seen through the footages of the Avengers' New York battle with the aliens.

"You know his tech isn't as great as yours, right?" Felicity said. She was right there. Besides Oliver knew he could easily beat that guy in a one on one fight. When the time came it wasn't about who could shoot better. It was about who could keep their calm in desperate situations and Oliver mastered in situations like that. His time at Lean Yu was a blessing in disguise.

"What do you say we have a nice, romantic dinner tonight?" Felicity asked. "It's been a while since we spent some quality time together…if you don't have plans for the night, I mean."

"I'll be looking forward to it," Oliver said with a smile as he kissed Felicity.

"Great. I know just the place," Felicity said as she kissed him back.

00000

He didn't want this. He already had too much problems in his life. A new one wasn't welcomed at all but then it was his luck. This was a bad month to begin with. At first he had his little fight with his uncle and then at the same evening his uncle had been shot. Aunt May had been devastated when he had come back home and was made to be aware of what had actually happened. Peter had his world collapsed as he held his shaking aunt, trying to comfort her for their loss. Honestly he didn't make her feel better at all. He blamed himself. He had a fight with him that morning and Peter had already made up his mind to go back home and make up with his uncle but only to come back to that. His uncle was no more and now Peter didn't know what he was supposed to do. The people, the neighbors helped but that wasn't for long. He could understand. This wasn't their problem or responsibility. Not only a week after, today, he had been bitten by a spider from the bio-engineering lab of OsCorp. He had no idea what type of spider it was because it was genetically engineered. He didn't know whether he would find that spider. It didn't matter in the end because even if he had then it was a genetically made spider. They wouldn't have its cure in the hospital. He didn't know if he would be alive by morning. He couldn't let May suffer and go through this alone. those people had him in their lives when he had lost everything – his parents. He could be with her at the moment at least. Ben was no more but Peter vowed to be there for May however long it took. But then he looked at the bitten area and his fear of death returned. He looked at the clock. It was late. He had a test tomorrow for which he hadn't studied at all but that wouldn't be a problem. Tests weren't his weaknesses. He was the topper, more precisely a nerd but a topper nonetheless.

He went downstairs to grab something to eat. He hadn't eaten anything at all the entire day and after the incident at OsCorp his hunger had increased. Coming back from the kitchen with his night snack Peter stopped at the closed door to his aunt's room. There was no sound coming from inside. He quietly opened the door and peeped inside. She was asleep, with Ben's picture in her hand. She must've felt asleep looking at it. There were dried up tear marks on her cheeks and her eyes looked a bit swollen even when they were closed. Making sure not to wake her up he quietly went inside the room and covered her in the blanket and closed the window. It was cold tonight.

Coming back to his room Peter quickly hogged down the food he had managed to get from the already empty fridge and went to bed. He had let go of the bite. If he was to die then he would die. It was a coward thought but he couldn't think of anything else. As a child of fifteen years he was sure he wasn't ready for the kind of responsibility that now was dropped on his shoulders.

"I'm sorry for that day, Uncle Ben," Peter said before going to sleep.

00000

Clark sat at his new desk as a reporter for the Planet. He had to thank Lois for speaking for him about this job to her boss Perry. He had met her when he had first found his people's ship at the arctic. They had been friends since then and Clark had to admit he was developing feelings for her.

"So how does it feel to have a normal job of a normal person?" Lois asked as she came by to his cabin.

"Wouldn't anyone get an idea with the way you said that?" Clark asked.

"That you are an alien who I met in the arctic, the man who closed off my wound with lasers coming out of his eyes, the man who saved New York?" Lois said. "Let them get the idea. Besides, I don't think your idea of wearing those glasses is gonna save you from people knowing your true identity. You should've done this the other way around."

"So you are telling me I should've worn the glasses when I fought off those aliens?" Clark asked.

"Not glasses," Lois said, her hand on her forehead. "The glasses are not enough. You should be like them, the Avengers, hiding their true identity behind mass and armor."

"One has openly told the world that he is Iron Man," Clark said. "One has been pulled out of the ice and doesn't hide his identity either because it's of no use. One was an alien like me who went back to his world because he could and one could turn into a giant green mad man. Tell me where I am missing the 'saving your identity' stuff here?"

"And what about those other two?" Lois asked.

"They didn't wear masks," Clark said. "They both works for the same organization that formed the Avengers."

"And that is a secret organization, right?" Lois asked.

"I know what you are trying to do here, Lois," Clark said, smiling at her as she formed a frown on her face. "You know I can't tell you about them because of the deal I made with them for keeping my mom safe from any dangers."

"And how assured are you that they will protect her before you can?" she asked.

"With them agreeing to my terms it has been assured to me that in case of an emergency my mother would have a secured location to be kept safe," Clark said.

"So have you joined them? The Avengers?" Lois asked.

"No," Clark said. "It was a one-time thing and that was also as per my mother's wishes."

"So you wouldn't do it again?" Los asked.

"Not if I can help it," Clark said. "Why are you hanging on to this?"

Lois sighed as she sat on his desk, folding her legs together. Clark was finding it hard not to react watching this. She had her skirt rather high on her thighs and the two buttons on her shirt being open made it even harder. When she didn't notice it he quickly placed a magazine on his lap, hiding his shame.

"Perry has given me this new project to dig out as much data as I can on the battle of New York," she said in a whisper.

"And you thought the first person would be me?" Clark asked.

"I thought you would be the only person," Lois said. "Do you think I would get an interview with anyone of them?"

"So I am the odd one out here," Clark said.

"It's not like that….well, maybe a little," Lois said with a blush. "You've got to help me here, Clark. Please?"

"I can't Lois, and you know why," Clark said. "I have my own reasons, reasons that I just told you. They know where I work, where I live…"

"You make it sound like you regret coming into an agreement with them," Lois said.

"It's that Fury guy…" Clark stopped when he realized the mistake.

"Go on. I promise not to write any of these in my column," Lois assured him.

"Fury, the one man responsible for forming the Avengers, is a tough man," Clark said. "I didn't know I would meet somebody like him and although he agreed to my terms I don't think he is being completely honest with me."

"Agreeing to an alien when the earth world was attacked by aliens?" Lois said. "Surprise, surprise."

"Yeah. But isn't it different?" Clark asked. "I mean, there was another alien, Thor, whose brother was responsible for the attack. Fury didn't say anything to him."

"I can give you two simple reasons why he didn't," Lois said. "The first is because Thor went back to his world. Fury couldn't do anything about that. He knew he had no jurisdiction there but with you he has that because you've been on this planet ever since you were an infant. Fury knows that. He knows that you were brought up by humans, that you know this world's rules, this country's regulations. Besides, with someone as powerful as you it is hard not to take cautions."

"So what? You mean to say that I am a danger to this world?" Clark asked.

"Not in everyone's eyes but some," Lois said. "People are simple minded, Clark. They want to live a simple, peaceful life but some people who are given the authority have to think a bit deeply. It is their job to play it safe. This Fury guy is doing the same."

"And what about when it was revealed that his organization was planning to use that teserract to make weapons?" Clark asked.

"Maybe because of threats like those aliens," Lois said. "You told me that this Avengers Initiative was formed before the attack had happened. Why?"

"With everything going on," Clark said, "like Tony making his suite and then the other guy copying it. Then Thor coming to earth and the incidents that followed related to these incidents Fury thought that perhaps for the protection of this world the use of the teserract as a weapon would be a viable decision."

"Did he mention the aliens as one of the reasons later on?" Lois asked.

"Yes," Clark said. "I don't know, Lois, my instincts tell me not to trust the guy. He seems to be hiding something."

"If you don't feel it like that around him then it's fine. Just be careful," Lois said. "Anyways, sorry for taking up your time."

"Sorry for not being able to provide for your column," Clark said.

"It doesn't matter," Lois said. "I will figure something out. You don't get a Pulitzer just like that. Oh, and Clark?"

"Yes?"

"It is okay for you to feel that way," Lois said, pointing to the magazine covering his erection. "I was, deliberately, using my womanizing powers to lure you to give out information. Sorry about that."

"It's…It's not a problem," Clark managed to say as he brought the glass of water to take a sip from.

"Oh, and by the way, how big are you?" Lois asked and went away, her smile, a response from hearing the glass shatter in Clark's grip of surprise.

00000

"But what's so bad about that?" Cisco asked.

"What's going on?" Barry asked as he entered the cortex early in the morning.

"Cisco has been ranting about us making a superhero team of our own, just like the Avengers," Caitlyn said.

"Such a cool name!" Cisco said as he sat in his chair, sipping his morning coffee.

"We have problems to take care of before that, Cisco," Caitlyn said. "What about Zoom? What about Harry's daughter being held captive by him? And Garrick's powers?"

"And that is why we need to form a team to take him down," Cisco said. "We alone are clearly not up to his caliber that is why he's been toying with us since he got here. "

"Wait, do you think the Avengers could've come here when we mistakenly opened the wormhole?" Barry asked.

"It was only for about a few seconds before you and Ronny managed to close it," Cisco said. "The authorities decided to keep the matter closed off. People didn't know what it was in the first place. If it is revealed to them that it was actually a wormhole turning into a singularity then people with actual minds would've lost it. But that's another day's talk. I am telling you, Barry, form a team."

"With whom?" Caitlyn asked. "With Oliver? The Legends?"

"What about the Avengers?" Cisco said.

"Like they would just let you in!" Caitlyn said. "Think about it. Zoom's speed is way too much for any of them to take him on. If they can't catch him then they can't defeat him. I don't want to sound selfish here, Barry but you are the only one who can hope to stop Zoom. You and Jay, if he gets his speed back, that is."

"Which Harry has been working on since last night," Cisco said. "I'll go take a look."

"Are you up for this?" Caitlyn asked.

"Up for what?" Barry asked as the two were the only one left in the cortex.

"Being a part of some team?" she asked.

"I'm already part of a team," Barry said. "And it is the best team I could ever have asked for." Caitlyn smiled at that before hugging him.

"Let's go and check on Cisco," she said. "I don't want him putting in any ideas on Harry's mind."

00000

It was different. He was different. It wasn't only his body. Not only was he not skinny anymore but his reflexes had improved. He was now forming muscles in his body, muscles that would make any other fifteen year old jealous. But what was more surprising was this sudden change.

Peter had woken up with s surprise. He was not dead, which was a good thing but then the new thing had started to happen. His senses had heightened up. He could see more clearly, hear more clearly and his body had changed. It wasn't drastic but noticeable if he wore a skin tight shirt. The most bizarre thing was that the bite he had received from the spider yesterday had been healed. There wasn't even a scar there.

"What is happening to me?" he said as he looked himself in the mirror. A part of him liked it. He wasn't an introvert, nerd anymore. But was he ready for this change, after what had happened to his family? He had to start looking for a job from today on. He knew it was the least he could do. Maybe these new powers could come in handy and make his life a bit easier with everything that had been going on in his life.

00000

Blake wasn't sure what he was looking for but he knew something was going down at the ports tonight so he was there. Even in the late hours the port was open, considering this was one of the worst places to be present in the city Blake wanted to know what was going on. He had been following a lead since the last month. He was just a mugger whom Blake had caught after he had mugged a lady and had run away. Before Blake could've done anything to him he had told him 'It will be at the port two a month from now.' Blake had left him unconscious in front of the GCPD and had been looking for clues to what it was that was going to happen at Gotham Port in a couple nights later.

Finally he was here, looking at the group of people standing by the port, guns in their hands. This was something that told Blake that something was off tonight. Looking in he spotted a fishing boat anchoring at the port. Three of the men from the group boarded the boat and after about ten minutes later a faint 'thud' sound was heard. So they had used silencers. But it still wasn't enough in the silent night. Even the water was still and not making a sound so figuring out that whoever it was inside the boat he was killed. His falling had alerted Blake even more as he became more aware of his surroundings, looking at the people below him coming out of the boat carrying a long crate.

They all opened it and what was inside it shocked Blake. How in the hell did some goons managed to get their hands on some alien weapons from New York battle? This was bad. Blake had seen how those weapons worked. If these criminals had these with them then Gotham would be in trouble. But then he had heard them and stopped.

"Make sure to deliver it to boss," the man who had come out of the boat had said to the others. "He has waited a long time for this. "

"But why would Tony Stark sent such a thing to Bruce Wayne?" one of the thugs asked.

"Go ask him," the man said before turning towards the boat and setting it on fire with a flame thrower. It was then that the Nightwing jumped into the scene and started beating the criminals. He didn't know why Bruce had tony bring the weapons here but Blake wanted to know. So he would personally deliver these to Bruce himself. The man had some explaining to do.

00000

It was painstaking but Lex had finally broken down the alien staff his people had managed to collect. It would've been much better if Tony Stark had not taken away most of it. Although to the people it was the government who had confiscated all the alien remains of New York but it was a disguise. Lex knew about SHIELD. His father had been a part of it. He was among the chief scientists there. Lex knew SHIELD was responsible for assembling those superheroes. He knew that SHIELD was the real body behind confiscating those parts. And if those parts were with SHIELD right now then it meant it was with Tony. He wondered what Tony might do with it. He already had a super suit. Was he looking for an upgrade?

Thoughts aside Lex looked at the container filled with the alien remains. He had managed to get a rather large chunk of the ship, a few chitauri bodies and a lot of their staff. They didn't work, the staff. It was a pain in the ass, figuring out how they worked and when he realized it he was pissed beyond anything. The staffs were biologically connected to the aliens. If their holder died the staff would be worthless. They didn't work. None of them.

Lex didn't know what he would do now. He had spent a fortune to get his hands on these alien relics. Now he was in the depth of failure. He hated failing. The incident of New York had made him realize how small and helpless the human race was, the same human race that bragged about being the highest level of races to ever exist, was merely made to run into a corner when they had arrived. Lex felt humiliated. He was angry. He was angry that they were weak. He was angry because now, after seeing what they- living outside this world – were capable of, he was feeling ashamed of being born a human.

"Bring them all to my personal lab," he said, looking at his secretary. "And collect my team. All of them. I am calling an emergency meeting. Tell the board I am unavailable for a few weeks."

"Yes, sir," his secretary replied as Lex went out of the room.

00000

Diana looked at her as she slept peacefully. The various machines that measured her vitals, all working smoothly. Diana, however, knew she was in pain. She had told her. Looking at the current state of Peggy had a tear roll down Diana's eye. She remembered the day when this young girl had offered her shelter in the world of man, knowing the dangers around them.

After the incident with Ludendorff and Ares, after Steve dying, sacrificing himself to save the world from another war, Diana didn't feel like going back to her world. She never felt a welcome presence when she reached near the entrance of Themisciara. She had returned back, without meeting them, her sisters, her mother. She couldn't bring herself to cross the barrier and be with them. Once the war had ended she had felt devastated to have left her world. The world of men was cruel and selfish. People fought over little issues. Many suffered because of the powerful. There was struggle to those who didn't deserve it.

In this world Steve was her only support, her only moral pillar but when he had died she had lost all hope encircling this world. She couldn't not bring herself back to her world. She felt like a runaway. She didn't know what her mother had told her sisters. It was just her that night who had come to wish her goodbye. Diana wondered what her sisters thought of her.

Soon enough the second war had begun. She didn't know what the reason behind this was. Ares was gone. Men shouldn't be fighting anymore but then she remembered what Ares had told her. Men were always on the brink of war with one another. He had just pushed them a little. Somehow surviving she had managed to hold her own, knowing that she would be targeted by everyone if they came to know who she was, not because of her origin as an Amazon warrior but her skills. It was weird but she had seen those experiments both sides were conducting to raise an army far more powerful that the other. Living in this world she had come to learn a few things and now she couldn't even begin to think how innocent she was when she had first arrived there. If it wasn't for Steve and his friends she'd have lost it all.

When the world was at chaos she had ran, betrayed her warrior side, thinking only about herself, protecting herself. She had killed innocent people, people who had only attacked her out of either confusion or fear. But then she had also killed those who deserved death. Slowly and slowly she was losing her calm. She knew as a warrior killing others should not make her feel anything but she was losing control. It was one day that she had saved this young woman. She appeared to be a member of the army of the country where Diana was at that moment. Looking at her Diana had realized she was a strong one. She could hold her own. Even then she had come to help her when she had seen a few men trying to do bad things to her.

Her name was Carter, Peggy Carter and she was an intelligence officer working for the American government. Seeing her had reminded Diana of Steve and after on the run these many years, surviving on her own she had finally felt weak. She had cried, first time that she could remember. But a woman crying in front of a woman wasn't a sign of weakness, was it? Peggy had brought her home with her. She lived just like others, just enough things to survive the days. The world was struggling. Being the only woman in the base she was provided with a more private quarter with security around it because army men were famous for being a little more active.

Finally Diana had calmed down and had realized that she had been brought to some place. She was at once on her guard, her shield shielding her as she looked around in the room for a weapon she could defend herself with. Nothing was found there when her eyes fell on the other lady inside the room.

"No one is here," Peggy had said with a smile. "You don't have to worry about anything. Oh, I almost forgot, thanks for saving me back there."

Diana looked at her more carefully now. Her vision was going blurry. She was shivering due to the rain outside. She hadn't eaten in days and she was weak, dirty and tired from being on the run. This person in front of her was a woman. It couldn't be possible for a woman to hurt another woman but Diana had also seen that happen in the world of men. Nothing could be trusted here. But she had helped her. But it could be something else. She was wearing military uniform. She must've known who she was.

"Who are you?" Diana had asked.

Peggy smiled a little, looking at her. "You saved me and you are asking who I am? I should be the one asking that question too you."

Diana had calmed down a little by then, her warrior blood making her take in the situation. The vibe she was getting from this woman told her that she would not harm her. This gave her enough strength to stand up but she hadn't lost her guard.

"You should calm down. You are safe," Peggy had said.

It was all those years ago as Diana remembered her days with Peggy. Now she was in her final moments and would leave her anytime. Diana was not ready for that but Peggy was a mortal, a human after all. As she looked at her sleeping figure a sound by the end of the room had her on her feet. She calmed down seeing it was just Steve Rogers.

"I never thought I'd see you again," Steve said as he entered the room. "Don't worry, I am alone." Diana visibly calmed down. The world of men had come far and she wouldn't be surprised if her real identity was known to anyone. "How is she?" he asked standing beside her and looking at Peggy.

"Sleeping," Diana said as she, too, looked at her.

"I knew you would've come to see her," Steve said. "I checked the visiting list. You've mentioned yourself as her friend. That's suspicious."

"She can't have friends?" Diana asked.

"She can but most of them would be old or dead by now," Steve said. "You are not. All of her relatives and acquaintances are closely watched by the SHIELD."

"I don't need to hide myself when I come visit her," she said.

"I know you don't but you also want to not reveal who you really are," Steve said. "So, we are the same after all now, are we?"

"It hasn't changed since the day you were made a super soldier," Diana said with a smile.

"Well, we both have a shield and we are both soldiers," Steve said.

"Warriors are not soldiers," Diana said.

"What's the difference between the two?" he asked. "We are both trained to fight. We both chose this life."

"In my world it is not about choosing," Diana said.

"So you are saying that you didn't want to be a warrior?" he asked.

"I wanted to be a warrior more than anyone. You know that," she said. "Why are you here, Steve?"

"To see her," he said, looking at Peggy. "And to see you. Why didn't you contact me when i woke up?"

"Do I have to make it any more obvious?" she said. "You were kept under security twenty-four seven."

"Well, now I don't," he said.

"Don't let that lie get to you," she said. "I've seen enough to know when people lie to one another and when people lie to themselves. You know that too."

Steve knew she was right. He, too, didn't believe what Fury ever told them. There were layers of different meanings in his words. As far as he had come to know his new friends of this time he could say just one thing – only Romanoff could compete with Fury in terms of being secretive and a guy with an agenda.

"How long are you staying this time?" he asked.

"You are asking as if I am planning to go back," she asked. "I left my world, my sisters behind me a long time ago. There isn't a place I can go now."

Steve knew she wouldn't accept him offering her to a place to stay so he kept quiet. He looked at her. She had changed so much the first time Peggy had introduced him to her. It was, of course, after he had taken in the serum.

"So, the aliens?" she said after a minute's silence.

"Yeah," Steve said. "Never thought they'd be real."

"Then you'd be a foolish man," Diana said.

"Hey, you have your gods. Those were aliens," Steve defended himself.

"Well, whatever that doesn't live on this planet is an alien to its people," Diana said. "The world out there is a terrifying place. Don't falter when you come to face it, Steve. You won't get another chance."

"Do I have to take it as some sort of advice that you experienced in your past?" he asked.

"Let's say someone I knew had such an experience," she said.

"Aliens in the past. Sounds like some conspiracy theory," he said. "But I will take your word on it."

"Don't get too overboard with that," Diana said. "You have eyes watching you all the time."

"More likely an eye," Steve said with a smile. "I'll see you later?"

"We'll see," Diana said before she left the room. Steve followed her a moment later but she had gone.

"We'll see," Steve said with a sigh as he entered back inside the room and sat beside Peggy. He would be there all night. He had nothing to do until Fury called him for a mission. Having accepted SHIELD's offer would at least allow him to distract his mind from this modern world. He still hadn't thought what he would do in this time. Everything was new to him. Stark could be his friend but he was cocky and he was Howard's son and age-wise older than him. He was in his early forties while Steve was in his mid-thirties. Although technically he was a lot older than Tony but that age gap still got to him. Besides he was Howard's son.

He looked at his phone. No new messages from either Fury or Natasha. He wasn't allowed to give his contact to anyone yet. SHIELD was still going on with his daily life routine. One just doesn't wake up after seventy years of sleep in today's time. It was just regular paperwork as Fury had put it.

As Steve looked at the mute TV that was still on in Peggy's room he surfed through the channels to pass some time when he stopped at one news channel. They were showing the battle of New York, more likely breaking down what had actually happened there. It had been months to that incident and with the city recuperating normal and criminal people alike there wasn't much crime rise in the city so the news channels didn't have much to show but different versions and debates on the alien invasion.

As Steve watched the news, mostly reading the headlines that went by on the lover side of the screen his eyes fell on Superman. He, too, found it a bit amusing when people had named him Superman. Well, he had an 'S' on his chest and he was super strong so they weren't wrong about him and he had not said anything regarding that subject so people took it for themselves that he liked being called by that name.

Kal-El. That's what he had called himself in front of them. He hadn't told them their earthly name because it would reveal rather too much about him. Fury had agreed to that But Steve knew that Fury would be conducting investigations behind Kal's back. Maybe Kal knew that, too because whenever a non-military drone entered the vicinity of Smallville it would lose its track or be destroyed by an unknown thing. Fury never said anything about it to anyone, especially not Kal because he was the one sending those drones to look for Kal's place. His real place.

Steve knew it bugged Fury that Kal was an alien. It was aliens that had attacked New York that day but Thor was also an alien and he had helped fight them. Kal had, too. Steve wondered what kind of a life Kal would've had as a kid. He definitely seemed like a good guy. Although a simple minded but a good guy. Steve had a chance to talk to him. He was surprised when Kal had said he knew who Steve was. It was weird coming it from an alien but then Kal was brought up on earth. He was as much human as anyone else. Looking at the news he saw the reporter going through the scene which had Kal guiding the nuke up inside the portal. The explosion had happened moments after Kal had returned back and that had rendered all the chitauri inactive. It was as if whatever was up there was some sort of brain, a hive-mind as Banner had put it. had they known this before they could've spared the city with the damage.

"Do you see how much the world has changed?" he said, looking towards a sleeping Peggy. "I am sorry I let you grow old alone. I guess I should've gone to that dance with you. At least by doing that I would be here with you in the same time. "

He sat there, looking at the sleeping figure until late at night when his phone buzzed and a SHIELD guard standing outside the room opened the gate and entered. Steve had looked at his phone by then and nodded to the guard standing up. "Protect her with your life," Steve said to the agent before looking back at Peggy. "I'll be gone for a while. SHIELD business. I'll come and see you as soon as I get finished off with work." With that he left the room. Romanoff was waiting for him in the car down the street. They had a hijacked SHIELD ship to rescue. He wondered who had the balls to hijack a SHIELD ship.

00000

Lex looked at the data he had collected from the staff. He had started to take precautions as soon as he found out that they were emitting low level radiation. Other than that the staff was not much of a weapon in itself. It had the property of concentrating the radiation and form it into a pointed blast. That was it. Lex was disappointed. He had hoped for more. Those aliens were weak. It infuriated him even more now that his race was losing to such weak aliens. And also the Avengers seemed to find it hard to fight them as well.

"Such weak insects. And I am one of them!" Lex said to himself. "But don't worry Lex. You won't end up like your old man. You will be strong, the real of them all who claim to be at the top. I will show them what being in the most advanced race is like. They are living a lie. I will break that lie by showing it to them."

00000

"You sure you will be fine?" Gordon asked.

"I'll be fine, dad," Barbra said. "It's just for this night."

"Oh, well. Do take care of yourself and don't stay out for late. You know this city."

"I know dad," Barbra said. "I won't. I promise Love you."

"Love you," Gordon said as the call was cut.

"That was close," Barbra said as she looked at her phone screen. Now she had to figure out how she was going to pull this off. She had already changed into the required outfit for the night. She came out of the alley and looked at the sky. It was on. He was out there. She would soon find out where.

She took out the small receiver from her pocket and turned it on, putting her ear piece on as well. The perks of being the manager of the city library were sometimes great. While her job was a boring one it gave her a lot of alone time. Nobody used the library these days. This had left her with enough time to make one receiver just right for tonight, and probably the nights to come.

"Come on, where are you," she said as she moved the small antenna on top of the receiver, trying to catch the signal she was looking for. She knew it wasn't the perfect one because she didn't have the right equipment but whatever it was it was better than she could ever have out in the real world. What she was doing was borderline illegal.

00000

Blake had taken off for this night. He had an important meeting to attend to. So he was there, standing outside Bruce's penthouse. He rang the bell and stood there. A minute later Bruce opened it. The two stared at each other for over a minute when Bruce invited him inside.

"What would sooth your thirst?" Bruce asked. "A scotch?"

"I'm fine, thanks," Blake said as he and Bruce sat down.

"So, what did you want to talk about?" Bruce asked.

"Did you get your package?" Blake asked.

"What package?" Bruce asked.

"I was at the port last night," Blake said. "I had a lead, a hunch, mostly after I caught this random mugger down the streets of Gotham. That led me to the port."

"What did you find there?" Bruce asked.

Blake looked at Bruce, anger building inside him. "I know you never thought about yourself back then. Probably not even now but please, Bruce, there are others who care about you. Let them be free from worry by not getting involved in things you've moved on from."

"I don't get your meaning," Bruce said.

"The package, Bruce. The one you were sent to by Tony Stark? I know what's in that package," Blake said.

Bruce looked at Blake, not saying anything for a moment.

"When would you have told me that you had Tony send you those alien techs?" Blake asked. "What? Are you thinking of going back out there again? In this condition? In this age? You can't even walk properly!"

"Who said anything about me going back out there?" Bruce asked.

"Don't deny it, Bruce," Blake said. "We all know how much you crave putting back that cape and cowl. Even if you do that you won't last a second out there with those people upgraded that much."

"I am not denying anything, Blake," Bruce said. "Whenever I get that feeling, you just talked about, I go back down there, look at those things. Look at your picture. Look at Rachel, my parents and everyone I ever lost over those years and repeat my promise that I made to them. I know I can't go back out there. Not because I am not able to anymore. There are no limits for the Batman, but that doesn't mean there are no limits for me. I make myself remember that promise every night. And to talk about the chitauri stuff that you are accusing me of an excuse to get out there, Tony sent them to me to take a look at it. Wayne Enterprises' science division is far better than Stark Industries' unless Stark is not managing things himself. He sent me those because he is busy. All I am doing him is a favor."

"As a leverage?" Blake asked.

"As a friend," Bruce said. "You know the reason behind that. I told you everything about myself when I handed over the responsibility of Gotham to you."

Blake looked at Bruce before standing up and walking up to the window that displayed the beautiful skyline of Gotham at night. The signal was on. He chuckled looking at that. "You know it's funny when they call you an outlaw and still rely upon you."

"People are simple minded, Blake," Bruce said. "I suppose you've known that by now. Take a look at the New York battle. If that light doesn't brighten up the dark clouds of Gotham for one single night there's going to be chaos. You and I both know how this city is. How it's always been."

"Never cured completely of its illness," Blake said. "I upgraded the security like you asked," he said, not finding anything to continue on with the conversation. It was still early to call it a night. Besides, he liked Bruce's company.

"Good for you," Bruce said. "I checked."

"When did you?" he asked.

"With Lucius on the bed and me having a lot of free time in my near retirement from Wayne Enterprises I directed my interests to something more productive."

"The Applied Science division," Blake said, finally understanding. "So, you have any new toys for me?"

"Not right now," Bruce said.

"Do I take it as an indication of having something in the future?" he asked.

"I won't promise you anything unless I am sure myself," Bruce said.

"You are working on something," Blake said. Bruce didn't reply. "And you won't even tell me."

"Not until the time's right," Bruce said. "I don't want you to be distracted. Go. The city needs you tonight."

"I thought maybe I'd take a break," Blake said.

"There are no breaks for the job that you've been entrusted with," Bruce said. "Now get out there and watch over the city. It's been yours since the last twenty years."

 **00000**

 **A/N: Thanks for reading….**


	6. Chapter 6

She didn't feel right after she had failed to find the vigilante last night. She had all the preparations but it seemed as if he didn't come out last night. It was a close call going back home. She had narrowly escaped her father finding out she had been out of home. If it was some other city it wouldn't have mattered much but this was Gotham. Even with the major criminals in jail or in Arkham there were some on the streets, working.

"You look tired," Gordon asked as he entered the dining room.

"Didn't sleep well last night," she replied. "How did your meeting with the new would-be commissioner go last night?"

"Young gun, I'd say," he said. "She is tough to be broken and she is just. Something that Gotham needs in a police commissioner."

"But it doesn't sound right with the way you are speaking," Barbra said.

"She is just too straight," Gordon said. "It doesn't seem surprising that she will definitely use force to put a stop to all criminals working in Gotham."

"And that means putting a stop on that vigilante," Barbra said, understanding. "But as far as I understand that would lead to matters going worse."

"My point exactly," Gordon said. "In my fair time as being the commissioner, even before that when Batman started to operate in Gotham, I, too, was against his methods but with the way this city was his methods were the only thing that had any effects. The GCPD slowly came to an acceptance with that, beginning with me. When the Batman had died and the new guy took his place people were doubtful at first but then the commissioner who came after me only branded him as an outlaw, nothing more. Ms Karen seems to just go on with it. She is right about vigilantism being illegal but if not for that then who fears the police in this city?"

"Ms Karen would come to know that soon enough when the crime rates will increase if she manages to catch this vigilante," Barbra said.

"And how long will that take?" he asked.

"The longer the better," she said.

00000

Bruce started a late morning. He was having these dreams for about a month now. At the beginning it was just once every few weeks but now it was going on every night. He looked himself in the mirror. His sulking eyes, the wrinkles lining on his face and the white hair, all indicated that his dream was just a dream but then he had found himself downstairs last night yet again. It was the place where he now kept the last remaining of the Batman. He didn't know when he had got there. He had no memory of that. Was he sleepwalking? It could mean something with his dreams that he had been having these nights. He hated these connections but he had seen enough crazy things in his days as the Batman. There was magic, immortality, unreasonable chaos, agendas behind anarchy and many more. Today's world was simpler – money, power and control. There wasn't anything apart from them. This was why today's criminals were easy to apprehend. This was why Gotham wasn't in need of the Batman anymore but then the sky opens and a swarm of aliens come pouring in. It doesn't matter what their agenda is. If it is bad then they have to go. If they pose any sort of danger then they would need to be stopped and then earth had its own force to challenge them and Bruce had thought over that. Would a powerless human be able to take down an alien invasion alone? Tony was powerless and so were two more when the New York battle had happened but they had still fought. He looked outside his window towards the city in the light of the morning. The streets were bustling with people going to work. Bruce thought what would happen if there was another attack like New York in his city. Was he qualified enough to fight that kind of threat? He turned around and walked up to the small head statue to turn it open. He then pressed the small button inside it and a small door opened to his right.

The basement of the Wayne Enterprise inside which entry of any and all personals was forbidden because that place wasn't in existence on the papers served the place where Bruce had his 'things'. He ignored all the weapons, the vehicles and suits that Batman had come to use back in the days as he walked towards the tall tower with many monitors and a control hub in it. He tapped some buttons on the virtual screen that currently served as a keyboard. The monitors showed a log in window. Bruce filled in the credentials and a moment later all the monitors went on. The room echoed with the sound of a low hum as the huge supercomputer was turned on. As he pressed some specific buttons the screens now showed the surveillance of the entire Gotham City. He then looked at the screen at the top of the pillar where various files and pictures related to his current secret project was being displayed. He had begun this soon after the attack that had taken place in New York.

"Brother Eye," Bruce said and all the monitors went blank except for the main one, "Start your watch." The one screen that now showed a white screen had a black dot blinking.

00000

Nick adjusted the course of his destination. His ship was flying in stealth mode which meant he couldn't be tracked by SHIELD or anyone else keeping an eye on his movements with any sort of technology. He had to thank Stark for providing SHIELD with such tech in stealth. But the same SHIELD, as Fury had his doubts, was being infiltrated. By whom, he had no idea. This was the reason why he had asked Coulson to source him a jet under the radar of SHIELD. With Coulson dead in front of the eyes of SHIELD when the New York invasion happened, this was Fury's plan all along. He had sensed infiltration in SHIELD a very long time ago. It had begun somewhere around when the Avengers Initiative plan was given a go. Fury had wondered how the board had agreed seeking help from super humans in case an unknown enemy attacked them.

Whoever or whatever had infiltrated SHIELD had its roots deep inside the organization. Being able to manipulate the board of directors took something. Even Fury himself was not capable of doing that. This was the very reason why he had left Steve a message in secret because there was no one inside SHIELD that he trusted more than Rogers. Even Romanoff was untrustworthy in situations like this. Barton didn't have the required reach inside SHIELD should the situation arose. Everyone was aware who Captain America was. He was the very reason why SHIELD was formed back in the era of post-World War II. People inside SHIELD would listen to him…people who are actually working for SHIELD.

"You have arrived at your destination," the computer inside the ship said. Fury grunted as he looked at the holographic image of the place he had set in the GPS of the ship. This would be the perfect place for the others to find him. It would be an exposure to what Fury had planned in order to put a stop to whoever this was that had infiltrated SHIELD. He was in the range of every satellite and the time window he got was enough to get his plans moving.

"Alright, let's do this," Fury said. "For SHIELD."

He pushed forward the control lever and the ship started to descend down. As the ship fell out of control, Fury looked at the ground where he was about to crash. A vehicle was waiting there with Maria Hill and Phil Coulson outside looking at the falling craft. As Fury looked at them both Maria reached for her earpiece.

"Now," she said and Fury ejected himself at the right moment. Phil could be seen tapping on the screen of the small tablet he had in his hands. A minute later he gave the confirmation sign as the ship hit the ground several yards away from them and exploded in black smoke and fire. Fury landed beside them a minute later, his breathing a bit ragged.

"You alright there, sir?" Phil asked as he and Hill supported him.

"Would've been a lot easier if I was younger," Fury said. "Did it work?"

"The body was there," Hill said. "With the transfusion and Dr. Cho's work on synthetic DNA transformation no one would know that it was not you but some already dead guy in that ship. You are dead and it will be official by tomorrow."

"Great," Fury said. "Now we find out who is infiltrating SHIELD."

"Shall I contact the Avengers?" Hill asked.

"This task won't require them. This is an internal matter," Fury said. "The Avengers are for global threat."

"I meant shall I contact them about your death?" Hill asked.

"Romanoff and Clint first," Fury said. "Then follows Rogers and the rest. We can't let the intruder get a hint that this was all staged."

The two nodded as they cleared the area. Ships from SHIELD would come there any minute. It was safe to just hide for now. Rogers would contact them soon enough.

00000

Slipping out of home at this hour didn't seem right to him but he wanted to try it and he hadn't got any time during other hours of the day. Half of the day he would be at school while whatever time he got after that was spent in part time jobs which he had about two, the last one he wasn't so sure as he had joined in just today and the boss was an asshole. So he wasn't sure if he'd actually be having that job or not. All of this had made his days rather busy and so he was always tired every night but since tomorrow was weekend and he had time off from work and school a little late night wouldn't hurt his sleep. He could have a late morning the next day. No one would mind. This had given him an excuse to test his new powers or rather changes as he liked to call it. He hadn't told anyone about it. May wasn't in the right condition to take something like this. Besides, something like this coming from a teenager would only mean he was trying to gain attention and Peter, in no way, wanted something like that to show to his aunt, especially at a time like this. She needed time to heal. She wasn't herself after Uncle Ben was gone.

Sitting squat outside his window he looked around, careful to not be noticed. Everyone knew him and his aunt in this neighborhood so if anyone saw him slipping out at night it was an assured guarantee that his aunt would know. He didn't know what people found so interesting in others' lives. Maybe this was the reason he didn't like his neighbors.

Assured that he wasn't being looked on to by anyone he jumped off the roof and gracefully landed on the lawn. He had succeeded in not making a sound. He was rather surprised on that since he was wearing shoes and his lawn had been left unattended for weeks. The soil was hard and the grass was dead. Avoiding a sound was impossible. Perhaps this was one of his abilities. He wanted to know what more he could do. He had researched about being bitten by spiders and none of what he had found resembled to his case. Perhaps this spider being genetically engineered had made him like this? If that was possible then one of the things that meant for him was that he had gotten all or rather some of the skills of that spider. He knew that because he could feel danger whenever it was aimed at him. He had successfully avoided any and all behind the back attacks from Thompson and that had not been received well by the bully who had then tried to attack Peter head on but Peter had dodged those punches, too. He had deliberately not engaged because that would cause him being called in by the principal and that would mean a call to his aunt. This was why he had left things as they were. Dealing with Thompson was never an option for him. Before he could not take him on and now even though he could, Flash wasn't worth it. The boy was a bully and he would find a new target once Peter stood up to him. Peter didn't want that. No one else should be bullied by people like Thompson if they couldn't defend themselves.

Breaking into a run he found he could run quite easily. This was something he hadn't tried before because he was in no way an athletic person. There was an abandoned building. Its construction had been stopped because it had stuck in some legal cases. It had been years since anyone had done anything to that place and so the building just stood there, half constructed, like a horror place. It looked worse at night. Peter thought it would be the best place to test his abilities. It had a make of that kind. Perhaps he could do some freestyle running. He had always loved the idea of running freestyle, jumping off hurdles and difficult objects. He had even tried once when he was a child but had broken his arm in return. He had refrained from doing anything that required more than normal physicality since then.

As he stood there, watching the abandoned place a shiver ran down his spine. This place definitely looked more haunting at night, especially since there wasn't any house or shop close to it. This had devoid the place of any light, too. Fortunately Peter had brought his flashlight and he took it out, using it to see the condition of the building. As he looked around the place several ideas started to form in his mind. He had read how superheroes had their own lairs. Perhaps he could have his own, too. This place would serve as his lair but first he had to make it worth living. Also, he didn't know if he was qualified to be a superhero but the changes that were happening to him made him to think otherwise.

By this time he had climbed up several floors. The building had stopped being constructed after the twenty-third floor. For safety reasons Peter decided to try it from the first floor to the ground floor so he climbed down. There was no guarantee whether what he was thinking would actually work. At first he succeeded in finding an old mattress that would serve as his landing area. He placed it where he had planned to jump from the first floor. After that he climbed up and prepared himself for the fun. He tried to change his mind on the fun part but failed as he jumped off. The first landing wasn't bad but it wasn't good, either. The first few tries saw him landing sometimes on his face or on his back rather painfully. By the first twenty minutes he had some bruises on his body due to the falls but he didn't felt much pain. Also, he wasn't tired at all. Maybe all of this was being the quirk of being bitten by a genetically engineered spider. Finally after half an hour he let go of the jumping, knowing he would achieve nothing tonight. So he thought of giving something else a try.

Among the first things that Peter had experienced after he was bitten was that his palms and feet had become sticky to things. Things were so much worse that the keys from his old keyboard had come out of their sockets and had stuck on his fingertips when he was typing one night, rather hard. He had then remembered that Spiders and other insects and some reptiles had the ability to crawl on walls. He wondered whether or not he could do that. Tonight presented him with the perfect opportunity. Taking off his shoes and socks he first put his palms on the wall and then his feet and then pulled himself up. To say that he was shocked would be an understatement as Peter shouted with absolute excitement. He then regretted it as his cry was echoed throughout the place. Fortunately there was no house or shop to hear him. He controlled his excitement as he tried to take another 'step' on the wall and succeeded with ease. It was as if his body already knew when he was taking off his palms and feet and they wouldn't be sticky at that moment. It was as if all of this was connected to his response system.

"This is so dope," Peter said as he climbed higher and higher until he realized his fear of heights and looked down. That was a mistake. If it hadn't been for his wall crawling ability he would have fallen down from a rather good height. "Deep breathes, Pete," he told himself as he started crawling back slowly. He gave out a long held breath when his feet touched the ground. "Alright, a reminder to get rid of your fear of heights," he told himself as he looked up where he was a minute ago. He had managed to climb up about a two story height. Marveling about his new abilities he wore his shoes and left for home. It was late and his aunt had a habit of waking up in the middle of the night. There was no telling whether or not she came in to check up on him. He couldn't take any chances.

00000

Clark looked around. He was currently on the scout ship he had found when he had gotten the wind that the US government had found something ancient hidden in the ice. He had managed to get it out before the government had managed to get their hands on it. Landed at a safe place he was now a frequent visitor to the ship. Using the access key that his real father had placed inside the ship in which Clark had come on earth he had accessed the mainframe of the ship, allowing his father's conscious inside the ship. This had helped Clark know a lot about his heritage. He also came to know that the access key had a limitation. If he wanted to know something other than any immediate information about his heritage and his survival on planet Earth he would have to present some sort of a sample or an idea to the ship's mainframe. This was done so that if others had access to this ship and his father's conscious then certain secrets could be protected from them.

As he wandered inside the ship he came to know more and more from his father's conscious. Call it luck that this ship actually belonged to Clark's ancestors, the Els. He had come to know about it when he had found a chamber with battle armor homing his house sigil. When he showed it to his father's conscious the ship's mainframe ran some scans and it was revealed that this ship indeed belonged to Clark's blood ancestors. The ship's technology was old but it was still far much advanced than anything on this planet for which Clark was thankful for. This had saved him some trouble from hiding the ship from Fury's watchful eye. Come to think about it he had heard it in the news that Nick Fury had dies in a crash. Clark wondered how it had happened. The man was clearly a formidable person, a strong, slightly paranoid personality. Somehow Clark found it hard to believe it. He was doubtful of Fury's death.

The matter, it seemed had been kept closed as there wasn't much revelation on the news about Nick's death. It had just been branded an accident but one with a great loss. The world had come to know who Nock Fury was and what SHIELD was when the Avengers' Initiative was first made public information after the attack on New York. People instantly had become fan of Fury as they were of the other heroes. After all, he was the reason behind bringing all those individuals together and now his death had shocked the world. The government wasn't saying anything and SHIELD had denied releasing any information regarding the fact. Clark wanted to know what had exactly happened but he could not contact any members of the Avengers, especially since he didn't have their contacts. Although Clark had thought of going to meet Tony as Superman but that appeared a little rude and coercive inside Clark's head. After all he had asked them to not intervene in his life. That gave him no right to do the same to them. Besides, Clark was never a member of the SHIELD. He had just agreed to help the Avengers - who were apparently working for SHIELD – on his own terms. He knew he had to set his boundaries because he knew how an agency like SHIELD could use him as. A hunger for power, a formidable weapon, Clark knew exactly how the human nature worked. The prime example was Steve Rogers – an experiment of super soldier – a weapon. And it was not to mention that Steve actually was working for SHIELD after the New York incidents. It was public knowledge.

Clark tried to divert his mind from those thoughts as he knew if he was needed by either the Avengers or SHIELD he would be called in or informed in one way or another. What mattered was that he had to keep this place, this ship out of the reach of humans. The stealth function of the ship would probably do it for quite some time unless no one else knew how it worked. He knew human mind was a quick learner.

"You shouldn't regard them as another race after they've sheltered you," Jor-El said.

"I don't know, father," Clark said. "Ever since those aliens attacked us I have been having these change of thoughts about the people of this planet, more so after what I came to know about my own people from Thor."

"Odinson is indeed the knower of our race, our people," Jor-El's conscious said. "Had our planet survived and you'd have grown there you would know about them eventually. They were and their laws were instilled in the education system of Krypton. After all, they are gods in the eyes of many who resides in the Nine Realms."

"He did control the electricity," Clark said, nodding his head, a smile on his face. "Where are we going next?" he asked.

"To the part of the ship I never told you about," Jor-El said, "And it is something about Krypton that I never liked."

Since the ship was rather huge the walk they had was rather long. It was after some time that they two reached a closed dead end. Jor-El indicated towards a control panel that Clark pressed some buttons on to let the wall open leading into a huge chamber.

"Remember how I told you that you were the first natural born in centuries?" Jor-El asked. Clark nodded. "This is what a genesis chamber looks like, Kal. This is how we Kryptonians were grown. Since this is a scout ship, meant to search and establish new worlds in distance space each of this ship was equipped with one genesis chamber, containing the DNA of every type of Kryptonian citizen that would make Krypton flourish on other worlds. This one is still active although the process has been slowed down drastically because of the ship's inactiveness."

"How long until they, you know, they are ready?" Clark asked.

"Even for earth's time it would take them years until an appropriate source of power is introduced to them, the sun of this planet's system, for instance. You see, Kal, even though our planet was destroyed our people still are alive and they are alive here and in many other genesis chambers of the many scout ships scattered all across the universe. I knew about this planet when we were preparing for your safe departure from Krypton because the Kryptonian directory had information about one of the scout ships coming to this planet thousands of years ago. A scout ship only lands on those planets that have the capability to support Kryptonian life. Seeing that it had a much younger sun was the other compelling reason for your mother and I to send you here. We knew that there was a scout ship on this planet and that if you found it and helped support its system then all the Kryptonians inside the genesis chamber would grow up, continuing Krypton in this world. You would be their leader, their guide to adapt to this world and you would be the bridge between us Kryptonian and the humans of earth."

"Isn't that a little too much to put on a young toddler's shoulders?" Clark asked.

"It was and that was why we had sent your cousin Kara with you to this planet," Jor-El said.

"Cousin? I have a cousin?" Clark asked.

"You did," Jor-El said.

"I did?" Clark asked.

"My brother, my younger brother and I were really close," Jor-El said. "On a planet which is on the verge of collapse with its society breaking apart you have a very few people close to you and people you can trust. My brother was among those people apart from your mother and our military general whom I trusted with my life. When I realized that the planet was on the verge of destruction I began a way for our survival. We knew about the scout ships and that one would be on a nearby planet somewhere when we came to know about this planet. But by that time precious amounts of time had ran out of our hands. So we decided to only send you and Kara to this world. With Kara older than you she would be able to take care of you like she had on many occasions. We had located where on this planet was the scout ship located. We had then fed that data in her and your ship…"

"But why build two ships if you were sending us both to the same planet?" Clark asked.

"You know how I told you that our military leader General Zod was my closest friend?" Jor-El said. "While he was a formidable man and a military general he was also loyal to the people and planet of Krypton. When you are grown in an artificial way with there being a directory that already has decided your life's purpose you cannot change it. Zod was destined to be the general, the perfect military leader of our world after the one previous to him died. This had the directory program his genetic code to that of the required. When the planet began to near its end Zod and I were the first to know and inform the Kryptonian council about it. Our ideas were the same – evacuate the people and head for the planets where the many scout ships lay inactive. That way we had a chance of our survival and the continuation of our race. My relation with Zod, however, had wavered off when you were born out of your mother and not from the genesis chamber. Zod saw this as a betrayal of me towards other Kryptonians, towards himself and so he saw me as an enemy to Krypton. So he went to the council and demanded they hand him the codex, the registry of all the genetic codes that are embedded inside every Kryptonian life. By that time half of the council had come to accept my proposal of evacuating our people while half were still in doubt. This caused panic and confusion among the people as the planet's condition and balance worsened. People began to leave the planet in their ships. Zod saw this as the Kryptonians betraying their own people, their planet so he ordered the military to take down anyone who attempted to flee from the planet – a small cost for a greater future – what Zod had called it.

"I and my brother knew that Zod would probably scan the ship that we had meant to make for you and Kara so we decided to build two separate ships – one for each of you. It would make the ships smaller in size and easy to pass under the radar of the military's scanners. We fed the destinations in both the ships but by the time of the launch Zod got the wind of our plans and came to stop us. In a hurry we launched your ship first followed by Kara's. As I and my brother handled Zod and his men one of them fired on the ships. Yours was saved because of the earl launch while Kara's was shot. We looked with horror as her ship crashed into the unknown lands of our world. With chaos everywhere and the time coming to an end we knew it didn't matter whether we found her or not. The planet was going to be destroyed and there was nothing we could do. By that time the council had come to a conclusion of not evacuating the people from Krypton but had seen Zod's actions as an act of violence and betrayal towards the council and so they ordered Zod and his men an eternal imprisonment inside the phantom zone. As the portal was opened and Zod and his people were pulled inside it we felt the tremors beneath our feet. It was moments before our planet was gone."

"How do you know about the incidences so close?" Clark asked.

"The access key that you have is no simple piece of metal. Like I said, Kryptonian technology is light years ahead to that of the technology on this planet," Jor-El said. "This key also has what the people of this planet call an artificial intelligence. Your ship and Kara's were connected as they had the same track data fed into their mainframe. That had allowed your access key and hers to communicate. What this conscious of mine told you that would've been impossible for me to tell you in person since you were launched some time before the planet's destruction, is just a projection of the viable fate or prediction that the intelligence of this access key made by itself when it felt the tremors from Krypton's destruction and the broken link and data it got from Kara's crashed ship."

"So there is a chance that she might not be dead," Clark said.

"Be that as it may but if she was alive and on this planet you'd have met her long before," Jor-El said. "She and you had the same data fed into your ships. And since you said that instead of landing where the scout ship was you landed on a farm it is only a possibility that the shockwave generated from Krypton's destruction affected your ship's set path. The same could be the case with Kara's ship which means that there is a possibility of her not being on this planet at all even if she is alive."

 **00000**


	7. Chapter 7

"You don't look so good," Pepper said. "You need to sleep, Tony. The program can wait."

"They are not gonna wait," Tony said.

"You've been at it for weeks now," Pepper said. "You haven't come out of your lab. You haven't showed your face to the world, far less on a news channel for anything."

"And why does that seem so important?" Tony asked, staring at the complicated lines of the program that he was working on.

"Because the world roots for you?" Pepper said. "The share prices of Stark Industries have taken a dive ever since you locked yourself inside your lab. The board need to know that you are alright. You own the company after all and there hasn't been any new improvements recently in any of our technological products. The lack of updates and you not showing yourselves have the investors pulling back their money."

"I've got that covered," Bruce said.

"And how is that?" she asked.

"Bruce offered to help me out," Tony said.

"I get that he is the second majority shareholder in your company but he has his own one to run and unlike you he actually runs the company," Pepper said in annoyance. "Where you just play with your toys all day long. I am the one who has to manage everything! I am the one who is currently the face of the company and no one on board seems to take me seriously because I am not you! I am just a secretary to them who flaunted you to get a hold of your big pockets! They never listen to me."

"I'll talk to them," Tony said, not paying much attention.

"Are you even listening to me?" Pepper asked. "I'm breaking down here, Tony! I don't know what decisions to take, what targets to set! The company is in chaos!"

"The world would be in chaos!" Tony shouted looking directly at her.

Pepper was shocked to see Tony like this. There was pure anger and annoyance in his eyes and they were currently directed at her. Those looks, however, subsided down as he looked away apologetically.

"I'm sorry," Tony apologized. "It's just that the New York invasion has me stressed out a little bit."

"Tony that danger has been dealt with," Pepper said, coming closer to him and enveloping him in a warm hug.

"There's no guarantee, though," Tony said. "They just came, Pepper. Pouring down from the sky like an endless rain while we just stood on the ground like tiny insects, watching the destruction helplessly. What happens the next time something like that invades us?"

"Then you all will fight again, together," Pepper said.

"What if we are not together?" Tony asked.

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"I hate to admit it but Fury was the one who brought us together," Tony said. "He's dead now and Rogers seems to not take it that well. After all Fury was the one who had introduced Steve to this time, too the present world and had given him a purpose after the New York incident. His death has shaken him and not to mention the death of Peggy Carter a month after that. Steve is not in contact with anyone anymore. No one knows where or how he is. Thor's gone. There's no telling when or if he will come back. We don't have any means to contact him. Banner's always hesitant. He is afraid of his alter ego, so afraid that he made me built a contingency for that purpose."

"Is that what it is inside the LA hanger of our property?" Pepper asked. "Tony nodded his head. "I wondered what it was since everything was kept so quiet about it. Not even the board members knew and they were asking me about it."

"Nothing that is happening right now is supporting the fact that the Avengers will be there when the next attack like that happens. Count the dead, Pepper! Not to mention the losses we took in injured people and structural damage. The later can be ignored, though. And now with Fury gone and SHIELD with no apparent leader to manage it I don't think it can provide us with enough resources to prevent from another such attack."

"Is that what you've been working on?" she asked.

"I thought of it with Banner once not long after the attacks," he said. "I am working on an AI program. I will link it to the many mechanical bots. I am programming it to face such an attack the next time it happens. I don't want to feel outnumbered when it happens again."

"I don't like the idea of having an AI controlling such large power," Pepper said. "What's wrong with Jarvis taking the control?"

"Jarvis' mainframe program is not designed to handle such large data processing power. He will malfunction doing the task," Tony said. "Besides, Jarvis serves me. Not even Rhodey but me alone."

"You make him sound like your slave," Pepper said.

Tony snorted before laughing lightly. He hugged Pepper back sniggling more into her as he was sitting on a chair and she was standing. "I'll have a talk with the board and will conduct a press conference soon. So, any ideas what new product should Stark Industries work upon next?"

"Don't drag me into this one, Tony. You know I am not a technical person like you are," she said.

"Jarvis, a little help here?" Tony said before Pepper pulled his face into hers for a long passionate kiss.

00000

He hadn't been here ever since Gotham lost the Narrows when Ra's Al Ghul had attacked the city along with the help of Jonathan Crane. After the attacks had been stopped and the problem was dealt with the police and the authority still failed to secure the Narrows. It was completely lost and a lesson was learned by the city that day. Walking among the streets of the almost abandoned part of it now served no purpose but Bruce had nothing to do and he wanted some air. He didn't know why he chose this place of all the city but it definitely brought back memories of him being the Batman the first time. The Narrows was the part of town from where the criminals originated before the city was introduced to the vigilante. It wasn't much now but still the slum part of town. Nothing apart from the Arkham Asylum stood any longer. The slums were all in ruins. Streets were abandoned and whoever was left was living on the streets or in dark, dungy alleys.

Bruce stopped at the only tall building of the area that was still functional even today. The Arkham Asylum held the most criminally insane criminals Gotham and Bruce had ever seen. Some of it Bruce had dealt with before he had worn the cape and cowl. As he circled the campus from the outside, his eyes fixed on every window of every room a part of him tingled with a different sort of excitement.

"I wonder if I'll hear you again," Bruce said, looking at one particular window that was on the topmost, isolated part of the building. It had strong barricading even on the outside. Bruce knew exactly who was inside that room. It wouldn't surprise him if he was just now a prisoner there as Bruce had deduced it beforehand when he had confronted him – there was no medicine, nothing that could change that man. He was an agent of chaos. Just like Alfred had said. This had given Bruce at least an idea of what kind of a man he was but still, stopping a man who had no agenda in crime world but who only wanted to watch the world burn was difficult. You cannot formulate a plan to stop guys like that because you don't know what or when they will make a move. No wonder Gotham fell his victim when he first attacked it. While Bane planned for almost eight years for the reckoning of Gotham the Joker had done it in just a few days' time and with no one on his side.

Bruce wondered if he could take him now if Joker managed to escape. But then he would also be old. How much Bruce didn't know but he definitely was older than him. This would give Bruce at least an edge against him in matters of physical strength. But then again with a guy like Joker one couldn't rely or predict upon anything. Everything was a gamble with him, making a plan and hoping that the Joker would fall for it. He was the perfect example of how weak and unorganized the human civilization was. Just a single man and he managed to shake the authority from its throne.

"My, my. If it isn't Bruce Wayne himself on the streets of the Narrows."

Bruce turned around to see a bald man with spikes wearing shades and a dress that made him look like a member of rock band. Bruce however, did notice the knife in that man's hand and he definitely knew how to use it with the way it floated amongst his fingers. There were also a few of his friends, probably, beside and behind him, all looking at him with hungry eyes.

"Wonder how much that watch's gonna sell for, TJ," one of them said.

"Perhaps more than what your mother would sell for," the man called TJ replied. The others laughed. "Come on, Mr Prince, why don't you give us everything you have on you and we can settle this like civilized people."

"Civilized?" Bruce said, giving them a full look. He wondered whether these people really thought they could take on him. He didn't move at all. He just looked at them with an expressionless face.

"Well, maybe grandpa likes a little persuasion," one of them said.

"Maybe he's got a hearing problem," TJ said. "Hey, Connor, try a little high voice."

One of them stepped forward, towards Bruce. "Let's see if he understands this," the man said, shining the knife in his hand as he approached Bruce.

Bruce was ready as he swiftly dodged the knife that was aimed very poorly at him and caught the man's armed arm, using his momentum pushing him forward and then throwing him off his feet to a good ten yards away from himself and the rest of the gang. The man fell rather hard on the bins, scattering rotten garbage everywhere.

"Grandpa got moves," TJ said.

Bruce didn't want to admit it but that single move had him in pain. His body was now home to many internal damages, not to mention quite a few on the outside, too. He could feel that he was old in the most literal sense now. He tried to maintain his composure but failed terrible as he fell on his knees and breathed hard. His back and knees were paining like anything.

The goons saw this as an opening and their fists and kicks didn't miss their target as after a minute a bloodied Bruce laid painting on the wet ground with everything on him removed.

"What about his clothes?" one of them said. "I wonder how much they cost."

"You wanna smell is underwear then be my guest, Butch," TJ said. "Whatever we've got from him would probably set us for life anyway."

Bruce heard as their voices vanished with the distance they put between themselves and him. He tried to get up but the pain in his legs and back had come again and with more force now. The goons' kicks and punches hadn't hurt Bruce as much as his own physical pain. As he tried to get himself up he saw a boy approaching him. His vision was blurry because of the pain and he lost consciousness, falling back on the wet, cold streets of the Narrows.

00000

Steve was glad he had someone on his side. He had also found a formidable friend and possibly an ally in one Sam Wilson. Currently only the three knew what was happening inside SHIELD but Steve was already distracted enough with the recent death of Peggy. He wasn't in the game and that had required Natasha to take leads on several occasions. This had slowed them down because with Natasha it was a case of trust issues. She had admitted she was still working on it because apparently being born and trained as a spy a whole life tends to do such things too one's brain. Sam was completely new to this. He was just a trainee as a field agent after he had retired from the military rescue operations. He didn't know what HYDRA was or how much had it infiltrated SHIELD. Well, the later part wasn't such assurance to any of the three. None of them knew how deep had HYDRA infiltrated and had taken control of the SHIELD so when help arrived in the form of Maria Hill they were much relieved. There wasn't anyone more loyal to Nick than Hill. She had supplied them with enough resources that had given them a lead which had turned out to be a former military training ground where Steve had trained when he had applied for the army. It was there that the three had come to know the true intentions if HYDRA – the control of the world at a gun point. A short version of a modified plan of Nick. The three carriers designed to keep watch and protect the world had their mainframe program modified and using a special algorithm designed by Red Skull's advisor and technical expert. To realize that they only had much time left made the situation even worse.

"Have you tried calling the other Avengers?" Sam had suggested.

"Thor's gone and Banner won't engage. We all agree on that one," Natasha said. "What about Tony?" she asked, looking at Steve.

"He hasn't talked to anyone after the attack on New York," Steve said. "Last I heard from Banner, Tony had isolated himself as he was working on some secret project."

"Clint won't mind lending a hand," Natasha said. "Who else do we have?"

"What about Superman?" Sam asked.

"He is not a member of the Avengers," Natasha said.

"But he did agree to help us whenever we needed it," Steve said. "But how do we contact him?"

"Well, as far as we know he operates in Metropolis," Natasha said. "That means he resides in that city. Can we spare valuable time to go fetch him?"

"We have no choice," Steve said. "If we don't find a way to stop those ships from carrying out HYDRA's dirty work then his strength is the only thing that will be of some help."

"Try all the help," Sam said. "I don't know how big those carriers are but they can't be as big as those Chitauri ships that he just grabbed by the tail and threw off. Everyone saw that clip."

"Those carriers are not as big as those Chitauri ships," Steve said. "We are going to Metropolis."

00000

Peter surfed through the internet. While the local news didn't have anything on him the YouTube definitely did. It had started after an amateur had recorded him hanging some muggers upside down on a light pole and from then on there were quite some videos posted on YouTube about Spiderman. Peter had to agree with the fact that those bio-cables from OsCorp were a real deal. With a little bit of modification Peter had managed to use them as 'webs' on which he could swing like a real spider. They were the perfect thing for him – for his superhero alter ego. He had also started to use the abandoned half-constructed building as his apparent base of operations. A working police radio that Peter had managed to repair served as his informant. He usually worked at night because at morning and evening he was real busy with school and work. He was very much thankful to these new abilities of his. One of the many plus sides of them was that he didn't feel much tired. This was the very reason that he was getting about a mere three-hour sleep every night and still feel fresh. He didn't feel much tired and all of this helped distract him from pretty much nothing that was going back at his home.

He would only see his aunt at breakfast and during dinner. Apart from that they both were busy. May had taken a job at a neighboring diner. The owner knew the Parkers so he was kind enough to offer her one. She had taken it just to distract herself because the pay was minimum wage. It hardly would've helped but the distraction from missing Ben was welcomed.

As Peter listened closely to the police radio as he hung upside down from the top of the unfinished building he heard a robbery going on in one of the department stores. It was one o'clock at night which meant that most of the patrol cars weren't available. Also, the nearest one was several blocks away. Turning off the radio he jumped off of the building, firing up a strand from his 'web-shooter' which caught hold of a light pole nearby as Peter swung himself, using his body as a pendulum weight to push himself high up in the air before being ready to fire another one.

00000

Bruce woke up with an aching body. With everything that he had given up after he gave up being the Batman, instincts weren't one of them so before making a sound he, as per habit, slowly opened his eyes, careful enough to not let anyone notice his consciousness because he knew he was at a different place as whatever he was lying on felt different – unlike the mattress of his penthouse.

This place looked more like a slum house. The sound of water dripping said that it was also uncared for. There was darkness inside the room. That meant either it was night or this room didn't have any window or a source of light.

"You're awake."

Bruce turned towards the source of sound. It didn't help him in any manner when he realized it was the sound of a kid, a teenager, mostly. The boy looked to be about twelve years old. He was thin and had a boney structure so guessing the boy's age could've been wrong. Bruce knew, from the boy's appearance that he was a resident of the Narrows.

"You are Bruce Wayne, aren't you?" the boy said. Bruce tried to get up but his injuries didn't let him. A shot of pain ran throughout his body forcing him to let out a painful groan. "You shouldn't try to move. Your wounds haven't healed properly yet and you haven't eaten anything," the boy said.

Bruce wondered what the boy meant by mentioning his appetite when he realized something. "How long was I out?" Bruce asked.

"Four days," the boy said.

Bruce couldn't believe he was unconscious for four days. He looked at the boy carefully and then around. "Where am I?" he asked.

"At the Narrows, in my house," the boy said. "Well, it's not much but it's a lot better than most people living here."

"What's your name, kid?" Bruce asked.

"Jason. Jason Todd," the boy said.

"Where are your parents?" Bruce asked.

"They aren't here," Jason said with a sad face. Bruce knew that look. Something immediately connected him to the boy's emotions. The boy was an orphan, just like he was.

"How long?" Bruce asked.

"When I was four," the boy replied. "But it wasn't that bad. Ms Kyle's people helped us a lot when the city's people and the mayor gave up on us. If it wasn't for her I don't know what would've happened to us."

Bruce knew Selina ran many programs for the welfare of the city's homeless and the needy people. She was doing a better job than the authorities of Gotham and the state. This was why Bruce had her a huge financial backing. Guess he would meet Selina after he got out of here.

"I know Selina. If she is still working like she used to before then you all shouldn't be in this condition," Bruce said.

"It's the Mutants," Jason said.

"Who? A new gang?" Bruce asked. "Never heard of them."

"Because they operate in the Narrows," Jason said. "We are completely cut out from the rest of the city. Make it the rest of the world. We get what little supplies come through the only bridge and whatever Ms Kyle manages to provide to us people. Other than that we have no electricity. No contact with anyone outside. You wouldn't know about us or the Mutants because the media hasn't been operating in the Narrows."

"I can only presume that this gang is stealing the resources that are given to the people of the Narrows," Bruce said.

"Not just stealing," Jason said. "They sabotage the vehicles that enter the area and take everything in them. They then sell it to us people in exchange for us working for them. They have a leader. No one has seen him but he controls and operates the Mutants. They say he is a very powerful man. No one has seen him but he knows us all."

"Didn't you people try to fight?" Bruce asked although he knew the answer.

"We can't," Jason replied. "The Mutants have almost all the people on their side. Whatever little of us are left we are just surviving. It is lucky enough that we are alive as it is. The Mutants are not kind towards those who aren't working for them in the Narrows."

"And what about you?" Bruce asked, looking at the ceiling instead of the boy.

"Well, I am just a fifteen year old boy living on my own," Jason replied. "I manage to sometimes sneak something for myself. Sometimes being alone is good for you. That way you can't be leveraged."

"I have to say I couldn't agree more," Bruce said. So the boy was older than he thought. Perhaps he wasn't getting enough to eat. This explained his physique. "I have to go back but I do need to ask you a question."

"Which is?" Jason said with no interest in his voice.

"What do you know about the vigilante?"

"Who? The Batman?" Jason asked.

"I thought the Batman didn't exist," Bruce said.

"He did!" Jason said. "Although he existed long before I was born but my father often told me his stories. How he would fly through the darkness of the night, saving the people of Gotham from its dangers. Catching and beating up criminals. The new Vigilante isn't like him. Although I don't know who or what the Batman was but I am sure he wasn't like this new vigilante."

Bruce looked at the boy. So Blake had also left the Narrows. It was explainable. Bruce had, too but hearing what was going on in here worried him. If it wasn't checked then Gotham could be in danger once more and a big one this time.

"Tell me, kid, what do you know about the history of this part of town?" Bruce asked.

"How old?" Jason asked.

"When it was cut off from the rest of the city?"

"Father said that out of nowhere a fog had come and then people went crazy," Jason said. "They started hitting and killing each other and that there was Batman. He helped save us but at the end the Narrows was lost."

Bruce knew with the way things had went down that night when Ra's had attacked Gotham it was impossible to bring back Narrows from the brink of collapse but now Bruce felt guilty about not doing anything at all to help save it. He could've done something times later than that. He had not and he felt like a complete failure. Many nights. There were many nights in his life as the Batman where he didn't catch a criminal or tailed a mob boss. He could've used those nights to help save the Narrows. He wondered whether it could be saved now. If this Mutant gang was what Jason was telling him then he doubted the GCPD would do anything about it. With Gordon retired Bruce had no one inside the GCPD to rely in for assistance. Blake wouldn't be able to do much. Even though he had been a vigilante for about twenty years now he had not faced the dangers that Bruce had. Blake lacked the experience. He would not be able to pull out a successful mission of saving the Narrows. But then Bruce had to try. He would try to talk him into this or more probably the police department. Not as Batman but as Bruce Wayne. He had the wounds and scars to show them. The city was much more stable right now. Bruce knew no matter how organized a city or a system was if an uncalled threat came upon then the city would destabilize in no time. Bruce didn't want to give these Mutants such a chance to attack Gotham without a notice. He had seen the effects of it when Bane had attacked Gotham out of nowhere.

"Do you know a safe way out of here?" Bruce asked.

Jason reluctantly nodded.

00000

Clark sat in his cabin, looking at the computer screen. It didn't work. He knew he would have to ask Tony for help because he couldn't ask Fury. There were two reasons. One was that he was dead and the second was that even if he could the SHIELD was gone now.

It had been the headline of all the papers that day when three ships were destroyed by the Superman and Captain American along with his team. It was revealed that the SHIELD was infiltrated by HYDRA ever since the time it was founded. People and the government itself were shocked when some of the very trusted people were revealed to be members of HYDRA. The media had thanked Captain America, Natasha Romanoff, the arrow guy and the guy with the mechanical wings but the main attraction had been Superman who had actually saved the day. It was him who had flown through the ships, disabling them and then gracefully putting them on the ground before they could wreak havoc.

This had also kept everyone busy at the planet. Finally the media had gotten something exciting other than the New York invasion. Perry was right. Nobody read the papers these days. People bought it out of old habits. This was why no one noticed when a paper printed the same news almost every day with little bit of changes. Well, majority of it was bullshit and Clark couldn't believe the papers didn't get a negative feedback.

But he had more pressing matters to handle. With the new knowledge of him having a cousin was discovered by him Clark wanted to find her. With his powers he thought maybe he could but what if she was not on Earth? But then where would she go? There weren't many habitable planets in this 'area' as Thor had once said when Tony had, out of curiosity, asked a question. This made things hard. Clark needed to find her. She was his only family left, perhaps the only Kryptonian, too. Clark needed her and he knew she needed him.

This was why he thought of involving Tony into this. The guy was a tech expert and he had the resources but Clark thought how much he could reveal to the guy. The guy was carefree but he was also sensible and mature. He had learnt from Steve and others that Tony was working hard to prevent another attack like the one on New York. The attack had clearly traumatized him. Clark knew because the stock prices of Stark Industries had taken a huge dive and only organizations like the Wayne Enterprises and Lex Corp were preventing the company from going public with those share prices. Those two corporations were major shareholders of Stark Industries. The three companies had taken in many projects in the past as a joint venture. Together they were one strong team and any and everyone believed that the three companies, when combined, could achieve anything they set their eyes on.

Clark had made up his mind. He needed someone other than his mother and Lois with whom he could share a little more about his alien heritage. Tony seemed like the right guy. The others would come but for now Tony would have to do because he needed Tony's help.

He took out his phone and dialed his personal number – the number Tony had given to the members of the Avengers. Clark was surprised when Tony had given him his personal number since he wasn't a member of the Avengers. "You said you would be available when we called you for help," was all tony had said before giving him his number.

The call connected and it rang on the other side.

"Kal!" Tony's voice came from the other side.

"Tony. Sorry to bother you in your busy days but can we talk?" Clark asked.

"Sure. What's up?" Tony said.

"Not on the phone. I was thinking of a more private conversation," Clark said. "Can we meet?"

"Sure. You know my place. Tell me the time and I'll be waiting."

00000

"Did you get it?" Silas asked.

"Damn! It took forever to get the clearance for this thing," his assistance said. "What is it anyway?"

"A relic," Silas said. "One probably older than any civilization on earth."

"With the security this thing had I thought the government wouldn't allow us to have this," the assistant said. "Turns out it was just buried deep underground. It just holds a historic value. The officials said that it emitted a near negligible level of radiation not harmful for us or anything. They think of it as a bomb of the First World War era. I am surprised they gave it to us. Only the paperwork took time. A lot of time!"

"Have lunch on me for the next full week," Silas said.

"Oh, I can live with that, sir," the assistant replied. "So what is it? Doesn't look like a bomb to me and even if it is, it is not from that period. It is way too tiny for that."

"It is a relic, of course," Silas said, already scanning the fossilized cube. "But it is just as much advanced as any of us can think."

00000

Clark stood at the door. He was in his suit. He still hadn't told anyone of the Avengers his true identity and he thought no one cared. With Fury dead there wasn't much to stress upon in hiding his identity. If they cared about it they'd have asked him or would've pulled a move.

The door opened not even a second later as Clark flew to the top of the Avengers' Tower, former Stark Tower now undergoing some changes. Clark had only been here once, that was when New York had been attacked. He hadn't seen it all but whatever he had were undergoing change. He could see a great deal of improvement and upgrade in the security systems, too.

"Got to say, I am impressed you avoided my secretary and guards," Tony said as he entered the room where Clark was at the moment. "So simple isn't it? Flying? I enjoy it, too, when I am in my suit, that is. I see you are here on business?"

"Somewhat, yes," Clark said. "I heard what happened to Fury."

"We all did. I don't want to say this but I kind of miss him. Well, miss his rattling," Tony said. "You want anything to drink?"

"Water would be fine. Thank you," Clark said. Tony made an unimpressed face but clapped his hands. A moment later a girl entered the room with a glass of water.

"So, what is it?" Tony asked.

"Before I begin," Clark said, "I need to know this from you – I will be trusting you with a very vital information that is very close to me. The reason I chose not to reveal my identity was because of my lack of trust in Nick. I hope you would understand that?"

"Of course I do," Tony said. "We all have our secrets. But it is not a good thing to not share those secrets if it affects others. Fury did something like that when he hid the fact that he intended to use the teserract as a weapon. It didn't sit well with any of us and this was why only Captain chose to still work for SHIELD along with Natasha and Clint, which is an irony in itself because he was the one who had found out about it and was against it the most. I suppose I will respect your secrets."

"I need a confirmed answer," Clark said.

"And you have it, my friend," Tony said with a serious face, something that Clark hadn't seen the man do. "After everything that's happened I really need people to trust me, to be on our side too fight back whenever something like the New York attack happens again."

Steve was right, as Clark thought. Tony definitely was affected the most from the New York attack. "I can understand your emotional reaction towards the attacks," Clark said. "As you know I am also an alien on this planet. I didn't want it to be revealed the way Thor did but it wasn't his mistake either. My real name, well, my earthly name is Clark Kent. When my ship crashed it did so in a small town called Smallville, in Kansas. A couple took me in. Both were farmers. Ever since I took a hold of my senses I am as much a human as anyone else. Although I always knew I was different than others when I realized I could see through objects, could hear things that were very far or very faint and had super strength. I only came to know about me being an alien was after my father showed me the ship in which I arrived in when I was fourteen. There had been an accident when I was coming back from the school. Our bus went into the water and I took it out with the students in it. They all saw me. It was then that I saw how afraid of me they were…"

"Why are you telling me your life's story, Clark?" Tony asked. "I am not a therapist. I thought you were going to tell me something important."

"I thought maybe you'd want to know who I actually am before we got to the point," Clark said.

"Nobody cares about that," Tony said. "And I mean it in a good way. Tell me, how much do you now about me other than the facts that the media has spread. How much do you know about Steve other than the fact that he is a guy out of his time? How much do you know about Bruce? His life conditions? We don't share our life's stories because we can't. We choose not to. So if you want to do so then go ahead but you will be the only one like that and just between you and me I don't trust Romanoff. She gives me a different sort of vibe. Trust me, if you tell me your life story she will come to know of it somehow. Damn she knows more about me then I do myself. So, let's get to business."

"I need you to find someone," Clark said. "It is a long shot and the person may probably not be here but I still want you to give it a try because you have the resources to do so."

"And who is this person?" Tony asked.

"My cousin," Clark said. Tony was visibly shaken.

"There's another Kryptonian on earth?" he asked.

"I am not totally sure but I think there is a possibility," Clark said. "What I am about to tell you I want you to tell no one." Tony nodded. "This involves some history about my people that I managed to gather." Tony nodded again. Clark took in a long breath and exhaled out. "Thousands of years ago the Kryptonians began voyaging through the galaxies in search of new worlds to live in they would send scout ships in the distant space. One of those ships landed here, on Earth. You might've heard about a secret government expedition about the possible discovery of something very ancient hidden beneath the ice of Antarctica."

"Don't tell me it was the scout ship of your people," Tony said. Clark only nodded. "How old was it?"

"What I could manage to gather from working sort of undercover for the people there, the RCD dated it to be more than twenty thousand years old," Clark said.

"And you have that ship with you at the moment?" Tony asked.

"I do but I won't let anyone be near it," Clark said in a serious tone. "That ship was the reason my father, my real father could find this planet. The scout ships were sent to those planets whose atmosphere could sustain Kryptonian lives. Earth was one of them and with the little time our planet had my father tracked the scout ship of this planet. But that was not it."

"What else is there?" Tony asked.

"I wasn't the only one who was supposed to be sent away from Krypton on that fateful night," Clark said.

"It was you and your cousin," Tony said, understanding.

"From what I've been able to gather, our ships were fed with the same data," Clark said. "We were to land where the scout ship was but with the planet on the brink of collapse there fights and riots happening all around. My cousin's ship got caught in one and hence her trajectory changed as far as I think. My ship's trajectory was slightly changed due to the shock generated from my planet's explosion."

"This was why you landed on a farm and not in the Antarctic," Tony said. "So you think that your cousin might've also landed on earth?"

"There is a very slight possibility of that but yes, I think," Clark said. "If she is on this planet then I want to find her."

"You're cousin's a she?" Tony asked. Clark raised a brow at him. "Just asking. So, is she older than you or younger?"

"Older," Clark said. "She was in her teen years, how much, I don't know exactly but that would make her to be almost in her late thirties to early forties, I think."

"I will program my satellites to track her but I would need to scan you first," Tony said. "I don't need to invade your privacy but I would need Banner's help on this one."

"Why?" Clark asked.

"Because I need to program your heat signatures, your DNA codes and stuff like that in my satellites and only Banner can get those processed, if you co-operate, that is."

Clark thought for a minute but then nodded his head. "No one else."

"No one else," Tony said.

00000

Lex understood Tony's reasons but he was going a bit too far with his obsession or rather pressing down his fear. The man was clearly afraid. The attack on New York had definitely affected Tony as he had become a bit less of what he was character wise. Lex could see that. This had caused Stark Industries to take a downfall in the stock market and so Lex had to do everything in his power to prevent the company from suffering a complete downfall.

Although he didn't want it but the similar aid from Wayne Enterprises was clearly welcomed. He had wanted to talk to Bruce personally about the help but it had appeared that the man was on a vacation somewhere. "Enjoy your old age, Bruce," Lex had said in his message to the old friend.

After managing the things he had needed to do his part in saving Stark Industries from downfall Lex had continued on his personal projects. He had recently gained access to even more of the alien techs from the government. He knew there was a fault in this security system as many were getting their hands on the alien technologies that the New York attack had brought on. It had finally turned out that the complete authority of licensing those technologies had lied in the hands of SHIELD which was being operated by HYDRA agents who had authorized the rather easy access to the alien tech. While Lex was glad that HYDRA was completely broken down the alien technology had definitely reached to a lot of hands in this time. Also, he had seen the news footages of Superman helping Captain and his friends stop HYDRA. This had not sit well with Lex, mostly because there was no telling how that man possessed so much strength, let alone the ability to fly.

He knew who were the Avengers. Tony had his suit. There was the guy with anger issues and then a man with the super soldier formula. The others were normal humans except for that alien with the hammer. This Superman didn't fit in the category of humans. There was no information of him being a subject of some kind of an experiment or something else. A single man with that much strength was dangerous. Human mind was a delicate thing and even if this guy had good tendencies, as Lex had seen from the news of Metropolis where Superman was a frequent, if someone got control of him and then used it against earth at all then the human race would be doomed.

This had allowed Lex to conclude that whoever this Superman was he lived in Metropolis because of his frequent activeness in that city. The people of Metropolis had now started to be dependent on him. It had outraged him even more when one time there was an article about Superman saving a cat out of a tree. He remembered the days when newspapers were worth reading.

A beep distracted him as Lex looked at the monitor in front of him. He smiled but not much. The data he had gathered from the alien technologies was not enough. It was good progress, though, but not enough. He needed more information and he doubted he would get any of it from anymore of those alien remains from the battle of New York. Besides, the government had full control of it now except for the staff that Loki had used to open the portal. Someone had managed to get their hands on it. Had Luthor knew about that he'd have gotten it before anyone else. That staff clearly was more valuable than any of these alien remains. These were pawns. That staff was the weapon of a leader – Loki. That itself made it a very important thing to be acquired. But Lex had no leads on anyone who would've taken that staff. Unlike Stark Industries his company didn't specialized in much technological feats although it did held some markets in that field. If Lex publicly showed an interest in these alien remains then there would be questions asked. Questions he didn't have any intention or mood to answer. It would also give his name and company an unwanted attention and possible annoyance, something he very much hated, especially at these moments when he was working completely alone, along with his secretary. He wondered how the world would react if they came to know that Lex Corp had created a bio mechanical android that looked and functioned exactly like a human. Not even Tony had achieved a feat like that. With his lack in the area of bio engineering it was a very plausible reason. Lex was especially proud of Mercie, his bio android secretary but it was a feat he could share with no one. Everyone knew how close the two were professionally. Wherever he'd go she went. She was always seen with him, in all the events, in every board meetings, in every party, everywhere.

00000

"Are you sure you have to do it tonight? You just woke up today and your wounds haven't healed yet."

"Four days is enough," Bruce said.

"Those were the days you were unconscious!" Jason said. "Please, Mr Wayne."

"I have to go, kid," Bruce said.

"Sure! Why won't you? You just want to go back inside your cozy manor and cuddle in your comfortable bed. Not even your injuries can stop you from doing that."

Bruce looked at the boy who wasn't maintaining eye contact with him. "If you think it that way then let me tell you that I no longer live in my family manor," Bruce said. "I gave it away for the city's homeless and orphaned children."

Jason looked up at him, unfolding his hands. "Why give away something your family built?" he asked.

"Because the city needed it more than one old rich guy like me," Bruce said, a little smile on his scratched face. "I need you to understand this, Jason. I need to go."

"But it is dangerous to go just now!" Jason said. "There's still word around that Bruce Wayne is in the Narrows. The members of the Mutant gang are still looking for you."

"Which reminds me," Bruce said, remembering something, "how did I end up at your place?"

Jason looked at the ground, turning his back Towards Bruce. "I saved you," he mumbled.

"You saved me," Bruce repeated in a monotonous tone, clearly letting the kid knew he didn't believe him.

"Of course you wouldn't believe me!" Jason said. "No one ever does! Fine! Do what you have to do. There's rubble of the bridge the Gotham authorities blew up that night when the Narrows came down. It's not deep if you carefully tread your way on the water. You'll find your step on them. It's not far from here. It's south of here."

"Are you leaving an old guy alone?" Bruce asked.

"Why? You too afraid to fight?" Jason asked. "You looked pretty fine to me when you were preparing yourself to fight those gang members. Be prepared. You'll need it. Since that path is the only way out of this part of town the members of Mutant gang frequently patrol that area."

Bruce watched as Jason walked away, vanishing into the fog of the cold night, leaving Bruce alone there. He knew the kid wasn't lying when he'd said he had saved him. Bruce had regained some of his consciousness for a moment or two when he had slightly caught a glimpse of a small boy rescuing him by tricking those goons by who knew what but it had definitely saved Bruce's life.

"I know what you'd say now Alfred," Bruce said as he kept looking towards where Jason had disappeared. "I think of it too but I think that is a small matter when I've discovered something this big. Blake would want to know about it."

Bruce got up from behind the crashed shipping container and walked towards the southern direction.

It wasn't long enough when he heard the sound of water. So he was nearing the limits of the Narrows. He then also heard sounds of people. Hiding in the shadows he slowly moved forward. When he was near enough he could see there were about eight people patrolling the path. None of them were doing it seriously and that made Bruce smile. He crept down and slowly started to make his way forward. There were many things to hide behind and these people were clearly not meant for a patrolling job.

It wasn't long before Bruce was on the bank of the land and he could see what Jason meant. There was ruble of the blown up ship. But crossing the water by walking up on them would clearly make him an easy target. He looked at the water. It was still and cold but he had been through a lot worse. Carefully opening his clothes he put them in his jacket which was water proof and made a small bag of it. making sure he wasn't noticed by the gang people he jumped into the water.

"What was that?" one of the gang members asked.

"You heard something?" the other one asked.

"Someone just jumped into the water," the first one said. "Go take a look."

The second guy nodded and walked towards where Bruce was a moment ago. "No one's here!" he shouted back to them.

"Is the water moving?" the first guy said.

'He's got brains,' Bruce thought as he swam through the water rather deep. He was sure this way his move wouldn't be noticed and he was right.

"Yes but only a little," the guy said.

"Must be wind," a third guy said. "Come back, Jack."

Bruce got out of the water on the other side. He was in pain. His wounds were open and he was cold. His hands barely worked because of the cold. He somehow managed to put on his clothes. It helped but not much. He looked around. There weren't any taxis but a patrol car. He walked towards it. There was just one officer sitting inside it, having a hot dog. Bruce knocked the window of the patrol car.

"Yes?" the officer asked, rolling down the window. Bruce just looked closer at him and the cop recognized him. "Mr Wayne? What are you doing here?"

"Just taking a walk through the town," Bruce said. "Clearing my head. If it is not too much to ask officer, can you give me a ride?"

"Not at all," the cop said as he prepared to come out to hold the gate for the billionaire.

"Don't trouble yourself," Bruce said. He walked around and sat on the passenger side. "You have my gratitude, officer."

"Oh, don't mention it," the cop said as he started the car. "So, Wayne Tower?"

"Actually, no," Bruce said. "I suppose you know Ms Kyle's establishment?"

"What do you got to do in a place like that?" the officer asked as the car started to move.

"Just some business," Bruce said.

00000

As the cop car moved away the dark figure looked at it and smiled. It rose up high into the dark sky of the moonless night and then looked at the earth from a distance. The Batman was necessary in the grand plan. This world would do. There were some great potentials on this planet. "Let's begin the next part of our plan, shall we?" the figure said and something buzzed beside it.

 **00000**


	8. Chapter 8

It was weird as Selina thought when she looked at the time. Who could be at this hour? Getting up she wrapped the night gown and opened the door. She wasn't surprised by who stood there but his condition did worry her.

"Bruce! How are you?" she asked, trying to ignore the face filled with fresh wounds and an inch long stitch above his left eye.

"So we are now trying to ignore what's right in front of us," Bruce said. "Aren't you gonna invite me in?" he asked.

Selina moved aside as he walked in. the door closed behind him as he looked around the place. He had not been here for a long time. Certain things had changed at her place. "I see you've changed the curtains," he said.

"Spill it," Selina said. "You wouldn't be here unless you had motives."

Bruce turned around to look at her. Her sunken eyes had lost their sparkle. There were lines of wrinkles on her face and her white hair added to her already long age. He stood there watching her for a minute before she cleared her throat. Bruce smiled. She still hadn't lost her quirkiness. "How is your work in the Narrows coming along?" he asked.

"Is that what you came to talk to me about at this late hour?" she asked, sounding annoyed.

"I may have found something but I think you have, too, unless you tell me the truth," Bruce said.

Selina looked at him for a minute before letting out a long breath. "The supplies are being sabotaged," she said.

"For how long?" Bruce asked.

"Since the last four months," Selina said.

"And you didn't think it was important for me to know about it?" Bruce asked.

She didn't reply. She looked at Bruce's waiting face. He was doing it – that bat thing even in his senile old age! She hated that. "Word is there is a gang in operation in the Narrows."

"The Mutants," Bruce said.

"You know about them?" she asked, not sounding surprised.

"How do you think I got these?" he said, pointing to his face.

"You went to fight them?" she asked.

"I was just taking a walk," Bruce said. Selina didn't look impressed. He smiled. "You have to believe me on this one, Selina. You know how I am nowadays. I can't even walk straight. I require support. I am officially an old person. I have given it up, Selina."

"So what were you doing out there?" she asked, still not sounding believable.

"I was taking a walk. It had been a long day and I don't know why I chose to go to the Narrows," he said. "Maybe it had to do with the date."

"The date?" she asked.

"When Ra's had attacked Gotham by terrorizing the Narrows," Bruce said. "That part of town has been cut out from the rest of the city; make it from the entire world. We have all abandoned it. That is a foolish move. You know how ignorance led to Gotham's downfall twenty years ago, right?"

Selina didn't speak. She slowly sat down on the couch as did Bruce.

"I know you are trying to help the people stuck there," Bruce said. "You take it upon yourself because it was your home long back. Why wouldn't you tell me? Why didn't you tell the authorities?"

"I told them," Selina said. "They didn't do anything after the first team they sent in didn't return. A week later all the seven bodies of the cops were found in the sewers. The GCPD has since then refrained from going there."

Bruce looked at her. He didn't know this. He hadn't been getting much since his retirement, since Gordon's retirement. This thing was a serious issue. In the presence of neglect the Narrows was the perfect place in Gotham that could one day explode with enough crime and danger that the city may never survive it. He hated being helpless, especially at the moment.

"I will talk to the commissioner," he said.

"Perhaps you are forgetting that Gordon's retired, Bruce," Selina said. "Although the new commissioner is a hotshot she is no Gordon and that ends all opportunities for discussion. Unlike Gordon who cared more about the city than his subordinates she is just the opposite."

"And that creates the perfect opportunity for her to get inside the Narrows and clean it up," Bruce said.

"Why are you talking like him?" Selina asked.

"Like who?" Bruce asked.

"The Joker?" Bruce sat up straight as he looked at her with wide eyes. "You just said something you yourself have never done – revenge. Turning another person just because it is easy as that person has lost something of great value. Isn't that what he did to Harvey when Rachel was murdered by him?"

Bruce stood up, his hands curled into fists as he looked over Selina's head. She was right but who would protect the city? There was no way Blake would be able to take up the job if something like that happened. Perhaps he would have to talk to Blake after all, convince him. But Blake was alone. Bruce shook that last thought away. He was also alone but then he had the help of Gordon. Blake was truly alone. Now Bruce understood why Alfred told him that he couldn't be a vigilante for long if he had continued to be alone.

Bruce worried for Blake but there was no other way. He had to talk to him. Sitting down he thought about whether or not Blake knew about the situation of the Narrows.

00000

Barbra had been on it for the last two weeks. She had finally succeeded to get a glimpse of the vigilante a week ago but that was all she could get. However, she did manage to get the frequency which this vigilante used to override the police scanners for his personal use. Working on that frequency was hard but Barbra had her own skills at her disposal.

"The best way to learn anything is to learn it yourself," was what her friend Lily used to say when Barbra had shown an interest in cyber security. It was a long time ago but that advice had definitely paid. Although unofficially, Barbra was sure she could easily rival any certified hacker if not less.

It took some time as the security and the layering on the frequency was rather good. If legally then it definitely would have taken a fortune to put in this much security in just the radio frequency. Finally she had done it. Patting herself on the back Barbra prepared to know the source of this radio wave. She wasn't surprised when she found out that the ping wasn't from just one place. The signal source was coming from all the places in the States. She frowned but then went normal. It wouldn't be otherwise if someone was to succeed the Batman and not be cautious. And whoever this guy was he was sure as hell rich. She was at least confirmed about that. This narrowed down her list of no one who she had listed as a possibility of being the vigilante. This guy worked in Gotham, like the Batman, possibly his successor. If this guy was rich, or rather rich as hell, then it was a bit easier. Focusing his work in Gotham, knowing the streets well would mean just one thing that this guy was from Gotham and if he was rich then there weren't many in his category. But seeing the security level in just his frequency layering would separate him from the rest of the riches of Gotham.

"Wayne!" she said at once as the view of the Wayne Tower came in her sight. It made a little sense. But then Bruce Wayne was old. She remembered her father telling her that Bruce Wayne didn't even came out much. She had seen some pictures of him. He was easily at least sixty years old if not less. That would leave him out of the picture of being a vigilante but there still was the possibility of him being the Batman.

Opening a new tab on her browser she typed in the needed words. The results in front of her eyes made her smile. Of course Wayne had no comments over the work of the Batman. He had shown himself to be a neutral audience in the matter but there was one incident where Wayne had 'accidently' helped one of his employees and had saved that man's life when the Joker had put a bounty on his head. Wayne had smashed his car into the truck that the possible murderer was driving, straight towards the police car in which Wayne's employee was in. Also, there were also several funds under the Wayne Enterprises, especially under the control of Bruce Wayne himself that funded for the repair work that were the result of the Batman's vigilantism. It didn't make sense to her at all. It didn't matter if someone was explicitly rich. No one would simply spend millions to repair the damage done by an outlaw vigilante. Wayne had said in many of the interviews that he did so because Gotham was his home and that his father had dreams for this city and that he was only trying to make it better.

Going through the search results she realized she wasn't going to get much on the internet about the subject so she focused her attention towards isolating the signal ping that was jumping from place to place. It didn't take her long and the result was in front of her eyes. She definitely was surprised but she had, kind of expected the result.

The signal had traced back to two places and they were inside Gotham. One was the Wayne Tower. The building had one of the strongest radio towers in the country, possibly the whole world. It served as the main communication tower for Wayne Communications. The other place that had traced the signal's source was the Wayne Manor or rather the orphanage now. So this Blake guy was lying. He was involved with this vigilante. She knew that even if Wayne was involved in all of this he would have legal proof to save himself from this accusation as the tower on top of his building was built legally and it had all the legal backings. The second source, however, lacked that luxury. But Barbra knew she couldn't just go and ask that Blake guy about it. He would simply deny it again, like before, and possibly even phone Bryce Wayne as he had said before that he had his personal number.

Barbra sighed. She would have to get on this some other way. She hadn't liked that Blake guy at all. Maybe an appointment with Bruce Wayne would help?

00000

He wondered what would happen next. He had not planned for anything after the attacks on New York. Things had…they had grabbed a sort of rhythm by themselves. Loki wondered how he could make all of this go faster. Out there among the stars he was expanding his terror and Loki had no one to look towards but these people. Yes, they were mortals, they had limited life and on a contrary note they were rather weak but Loki had seen something else in them – the ability and the will to survive. The inner strength to go on, to fight for their own and unity against someone or something that was a threat to them. Well, he was a threat to them, to the entire universe with the type of plan that he had and Loki intended to stop this guy for the very reason. Becoming blind with fair justice and for a willing restart of everything was a good thing in thoughts and plans but it had never born a positive result to anyone or anything.

Loki looked among the night stars as he smiled. "Am I doing this right, father?" he said slowly. "You put me on this job, you gave me the duty. I will come to talk to you soon once I do something I plan to do here first." Saying that, Loki jumped from the top of the building and disappeared mid-way of the fall.

00000

There was a bit of rush in the house today as the children had come to know that Bruce Wayne would be coming to visit them. Blake was rather surprised because he had known about this through other means. To think that Bruce hadn't bothered to inform him beforehand made him to think why so. The old guy came around eleven in the morning. He was in his rather luxury car. That sort of comfort was finally paying off for him. Bruce was old now. As he got out of the car Blake looked at the old man coming towards the entrance with shaky steps and a cane supporting his structure. To think that this guy was solely responsible for bringing one of the world's most dangerous cities into balance was hard to believe now as he looked at Bruce. The shake of hands was a formal one as the two talked something among themselves for a moment before the two went inside the former Wayne manor.

Bruce was welcomed by a swarm of kids – all age. They had clearly seen him for the first time in person. Bruce had never came to see them personally and even when he had come to meet Blake before he would avoid them. He had never thought of himself as an idol to some kid. He didn't know how to be in front of them, how to talk to them or anything one could know about when they were interacting with kids.

The meeting with the kids went rather longer than what Bruce had imagined but finally he was in Blake's office. There wasn't much except for some books and documents on adoption on the rack and at Blake's table.

"So, didn't bother to inform me," Blake said as he sat down in his chair without offering Bruce one.

Bruce pulled the nearby chair before making himself comfortable in it. "Because it was business," he said.

"Then I suppose you get to the point," Blake said.

"So be it," Bruce said. "How much are you prepared for the betterment of the Narrows?"

"Even if I could what good will it bring?" Blake asked. "The Narrows is lost. It's been cut out from the rest of the city, hell, probably from the rest of the world. No one but the criminals and crazies live there."

"I took a stroll there about a week ago," Bruce said.

Blake put down his glass of whiskey as he looked at the man sitting in front of him. He then noticed there were light scars on his face. "Is that where you got those?" he asked, pointing to Bruce's fresh scars.

"Yes," Bruce admitted.

Blake sighed as he had another sip of his whiskey. "What did you find out?" he asked.

"A gang is on the rise in the Narrows," Bruce said. "It goes by the name of The Mutants."

"And who is this gang looting and torturing?" Blake asked.

"The people of the Narrows," Bruce said.

Blake let out a breath. "There is nothing to take from the people of the Narrows," Blake said.

"Every week Selina sends for some supplies there," Bruce said. "She does so because Wayne Enterprises had specifically set up a division for the bringing up of the Narrows after Bane's loss twenty years ago. This gang is stealing those supplies, robbing the people of the Narrows from the little chance of survival."

"And you want me to look into it," Blake said.

"The police won't do anything, especially after Gordon's retirement," Bruce said. "The Narrows is lost to them."

"Maybe t is lost to us all," Blake said.

"You cannot ignore this," Bruce said. "The Narrows comes under the limits of Gotham City."

Blake didn't say anything as he placed down his glass on the table and stood up, walking towards the large window behind him to look at the grounds of the former Wayne Manor. "I am thinking about giving it all up – being the vigilante."

"And how are you planning to do that?" Bruce asked.

Blake had not expected such a casual way of questioning from Bruce over this. He turned around and looked at him. "Aren't you bothered by this?" he asked.

"That you are giving up being the vigilante? No," Bruce said. "Don't you remember what I had told you all those years ago?"

'A hero can be anyone,' Blake remembered.

"With the changes that have been within Gotham, the city is now capable of standing its own ground," Bruce said. "We succeeded up to that part. The police department is far less corrupt than before. People are willing to fight for what is right and crime rates are no longer what makes Gotham stand out on the world map. Even if you give this up the city is capable enough to fight on its own."

"So that is all you have to say to me?" Blake asked. Bruce didn't reply. "That is all you have to say to me after I gave up everything for this city for twenty years?"

"What do you want me to say to you, Blake?" Bruce asked.

"A little humbleness would be appreciated! After you gave up being the Batman you gave it all up! You never ever came to me once, asking about how I was doing, especially with the responsibility that you'd put upon me! I was your successor and you never ever gave me advice on how to be like you!"

"You have to be you," Bruce said in his calm stature. "It was you who made me believe in you. It was you that I saw when I gave you the responsibility. If you are willing to be someone you are not then you are already failing. How will you carry on this responsibility then?"

"So that is all you have to say?" Blake asked. "I stead of encouraging me, making me to keep doing this you are only supporting my claims to give it all up?"

"You only just said that you were planning to give it all up. It is your decision and I have no say in it. You have given it a thorough thought and hence you are speaking so," Bruce said.

"I can't believe you, Bruce!" Blake said as he slammed down the glass hard on the table and exited the office. Bruce kept looking at the whiskey glass that Blake had put on the table rather hard as he thought about the conversation that had just happened between them. Yes, it was Blake's decision to stop doing whenever he wanted but at a time like this? Maybe he would try to launch a campaign to help the people of the Narrows. Maybe that would be a more appropriate thing to do.

00000

Clark was inside Tony's lavish villa waiting for the said man. The billionaire had called him for something 'important'. Clark knew what it was and so he was here. Tony had not made him wait much longer as he entered the room in his sleeping robes. His eyes clearly looked sulked, followed by dark circles under them. He clearly hadn't slept properly. Who knew for how many days even. Among all the members of the Avengers it was a common word now that Tony was doing something to prevent the next invasion. Perhaps he was overdoing himself but when had he listened to anyone?

"I did what you asked," he said as he sat down rather hard on the large couch, his drink spilling a bit. He was already a bit drunk. "Coffee and rum are never a good mix," he said, raising his glass. "Well, we are not here for my special cocktail recipe. I did not find her anywhere."

Clark sat still, still processing what Tony had just said. It wasn't that hard to believe. His cousin's ship had lost the fed coordinates while still at the initial phase. For her to be on earth would rather have been a surprising thing to hear. But it had definitely made Clark feel sad about someone other than him being of his own world.

"So, what shall we do?" Tony asked.

"What else can we do?" Clark said. "I would actually have been surprised if she was on this planet. There's nothing we can do now."

"So you want to give up," Tony said.

"Well, there's nothing else I can do about it, can we?" Clark said.

"I would've suggested to use the alien technology that we gained from the fight in New York.."

"There's nothing that we gained from that fight," Clark said.

"I'm just sayin'", Tony said, "those aliens travel in space, probably to distant planets at light speed, probably at warp speed…"

"If you are suggesting that we make a space ship using their alien tech then you are forgetting that there is nothing in our possession that will help us make something like that in the first place," Clark said. "Also, it is a futile attempt to do something like that. For starters, we don't know where my cousin is in the first place if she is not on earth."

Tony knew Clark had a point. He, too, had thought of that when he had found nothing on Clark's missing cousin. Space search for a missing person – that was something new for him. Humans weren't that advanced. They still needed rocket propulsions to push them out of earth's atmosphere.

"I suppose you wouldn't let me take a peek into your scout ship?" Tony asked.

"It is out of bounds," Clark said. "Don't take this the wrong way but I've been raised on this planet since being a baby. I know human nature. I still don't trust you all completely."

"I understand that," Tony said. "So this leaves us with nothing and nowhere. So I am officially sorry to have failed you in helping you find your cousin."

Clark said nothing. He just nodded his head. He knew it wasn't Tony's fault. Clark himself had given him a difficult job to do in the first place. But perhaps his scout ship might have something that would help him. Perhaps his father could help him on this one.

Clark stood up to take his leave when Tony stopped him. "What is it?" Clark asked.

"You know that I am making something to protect us from another invasion," Tony said. Clark nodded. "I am doing it on a risk. If Fury was alive today and if he had known my entire plan on this project then he'd definitely had stopped me."

"What are you working on exactly?" Clark asked.

"I can't tell right now," Tony said. "You'd have to see it like the rest of the others. For now I can only tell that if this goes south we would be in great requirements of your help."

Clark looked at Tony. He wasn't talking in sense. He'd had too much drink and he was in desperate need of sleep. As if on cue, Pepper entered the room just as Tony fell on Clark, unconscious. Pepper ran towards them. Clark picked Tony up.

"Jarvis said something about Tony's health," Pepper said as she supported Tony.

"I don't know what he's been doing but he needs to take time off from it," Clark said. "Make sure he gets enough rest."

"You did something to him?" Pepper asked.

"Just knocked him out," Clark said, looking ashamed.

"Well, I guess this is bad from my side but thanks," Pepper said. "I've been trying to get Tony to take a break from this project of his but he never listens. I tried telling him that it wouldn't matter if he gets his health bad!"

"It's alright," Clark said, placing a comforting hand on Pepper's shoulder. "When he wakes up, tell him there's no rush in finishing his project. We are there to protect the people in case the world needs it."

Pepper looked at Clark with a new sort of hope in her eyes. There was a look of determination on his face as he looked back at her. "I will be taking my leave now. When he wakes up, give Tony my gratitude for his efforts in trying to help me."

Pepper looked as Clark flew out of the large balcony and vanished with an echoing boom.

00000

As Clark flew towards his home he saw a minor burglary taking place down on the street. Landing carefully on top of a building roof he opened his shirt, revealing the S symbol of hope on his planet. Within a minute he was standing in front of the guy who was looking back at him with complete fear in his eyes. The guy was afraid as he was shaking. He dropped the purse and fell on his knees. Superman picked up the purse and the man and looked him in the eyes. "Looking at you I can tell that you think you don't have other choice," Superman said to the guy. "This life won't lead you anywhere. You won't survive on this. One day you will have to pay for it. I want you to think about what you are doing with your life and what you can do with your life. Try and find a decent way of living."

What little people who were watching the exchange taking place on the streets started clapping for the hero. The guy had started to cry and the sound of all the claps and cheers engulfed his quiet apology but Superman had heard it. He smiled at the guy as he let his grip on him loose. "I'd still have to get you to police, you know that." The guy chuckled as he looked down in apology and shame. "When I come out and we meet the next time, you will see me a different man, Superman," the guy said.

"What's your name?" Superman asked.

"Phil," the guy said. "Phil Marcus."

"I am looking forward to meeting you next time, Phil," Superman said with a confident smile before he blasted off into the evening sky. People looked up at the empty sky, calling his name and still cheering as a patrol car stopped nearby and Phil smiled.

Clark landed on the roof of his apartment and changed back into normal. As he was about to go down he looked at the skyline of his city. It was looking a peaceful evening in Metropolis but there were still a few police sirens echoing in the cold wind. Forming a smile on his face Clark changed back into his Kryptonian suit before taking a flight towards the nearest possible situation that could require Superman's help.

00000

Peter was feeling great. His mind was clear. He hadn't been late to class for over three months now. He had maintained his grades up and he had gained a new attention towards himself from his schoolmates for standing up to Flash Thompson. The senior had tried to bully him in the basketball court during one of the free hours when Peter had remarkably embarrassed the guy in front of his whole team and the group of girls who always followed him. Since that day Peter hadn't come face to face with Thompson. He had seen him in the corridors but had hoped that was it. He knew there was a high probability that Thompson would be looking for revenge and Peter knew he wouldn't be able to do anything that could attract unwanted attention with him using his powers which he had started to master rather well. Also, he had stopped two robberies taking place in his neighborhood. The local newspaper had finally got his attention, or rather they got the information through the web-winded robbers after the police interrogated them. Bottom-line was that everyone in the area knew there was a Spiderman. As Peter looked up online the hits on those previously uploaded videos of his by others had started to get more views. A smile came upon his face as he read another article about Spiderman.

He didn't know if this was something he wanted to do or be but he was definitely enjoying it. Saving people felt good. When New York was attacked he had been afraid like the rest of the others. he and his aunt were among the many lucky ones who had survived the attack but since then there had been a spark within him to protect his aunt and the people of this city. He remembered how helpless he had felt when those aliens came pouring through the sky hole, wreaking havoc, killing people, destroying their city.

As he entered his room through the open window he looked at the time. It wasn't surprising that he would again get mere hours of sleep but that wasn't affecting him in the slightest. He was, in fact, accustomed to it now.

As he lay on his bed he recalled his day today. A smile was on his face the whole time as he remembered how his day had went by. More and more people were coming to know about the Spiderman and he couldn't help himself but be excited about it. Being a superhero was fun but he knew the risks involved. He wondered if he could be a part of something like the Avengers. It didn't have much members but it was also new. Peter knew there were many superheroes just only in the United States itself. He knew about the Flash of Central City. He had seen the guy's powers many times in the news. Then there was the vigilante in Star City going by the name Arrow. Peter thought he was similar to the other Bow and Arrow guy who was in the Avengers. But this guy was a vigilante, just like the one in Gotham although Peter didn't know much about him. Also, Gotham was a city that wasn't popular on the domestic map. The city had a bad reputation and although it had come a long way its image was still tarnished.

Turning over he opened his phone and started going through the real time news. There wasn't much happening, especially in areas surrounding in his neighborhood. He wasn't feeling sleepy at all and wasn't even tired. He sat up in his bed as he looked at the screen of his phone. Scrolling down with rapid strokes he was trying to find something he could get his head into so he could have something to focus. There wasn't any test coming in the rest of the week so he could leave studying out of option. As he scrolled down, looking for something interesting an article caught his attention. It was an old article and Peter knew about the incident. It was about the day SHIELD was destroyed completely. It had been discovered that HYDRA was working from inside SHIELD facilities, getting their own works down, using SHIELD's resources. Superman, Captain America, Agent Romanoff and a guy with mechanical wings had been the reason to bring down HYDRA's plans.

Peter wondered if he could ask one of these guys to help him be a member of the Avengers. He was clearly strong physically. He could easily lift a vehicle. It wasn't exactly that but he had once stopped a speeding truck from crashing into a school bus just by his hands and had sustained no injuries or scratches. He knew he was strong but he was also a teenager. That would be a problem. He was a minor and May didn't know about his powers so he couldn't convince her to let the Avengers understand his need to join the team. His aunt wouldn't allow him in the first place if she comes to know that he has powers and that he wishes to join the Avengers.

Peter sighed as he let his head fall hard on the pillow. He looked at the clock. It was about four in the morning. The sun would be out in an hour or so.

00000

Bruce sat in his office, going through the week's business ledgers. His company had suffered some backlash in business when he had backed Tony's because that man was not himself for quite some time now. He knew the reason. Tony had told him. He had also thanked him for saving his company. Bruce had also just got off the phone with Lex. Lex had also helped save Tony's company from suffering a huge disaster. As Bruce had talked to the young billionaire who had recently received the company from his father Bruce could tell that the man was rather obsessed with alien technology.

Bruce had known Lex since he was a teenager. He had met Lex many times before when his father used to run things at Lex Corp. He was a good man. A bit too obsessed over things but a good man indeed. To think that Lex had his attention towards the alien technology that Stark Industries had was sending some negative vibes to Bruce. He didn't know what Lex wanted to do with such tech but if it was something that Lex seriously had put his mind on obtaining to do who knows what, the man won't give up easily. He might even go and have things done in unethical ways. Bruce knew that much about Lex.

The knock on the door got him out of his thoughts as he looked up. His secretary popped her head inside the lavish office. "Your eleven o'clock is here, Mr Wayne," she said.

"Alright," Bruce nodded as he kept aside the official papers to clear his desk a little as a young girl with glasses entered. Bruce stopped for a moment as he saw her. He recognized her immediately. Why would Barbra Gordon have an appointment with him?

"Good morning, Mr Wayne," Barbra said as she came and stood in front of him. Bruce stood up as he kept looking at her. "My name is Barbra."

"Hello, Barbra," Bruce said as he shook her hand. "Have a seat. So, what is your purpose for this appointment?" he asked.

Barbra sat quietly as she looked around. Bruce was currently looking outside at the city outline from his office window, his back towards her. A minute later he turned to face her. She looked at him, a sort of definite determination in her eyes.

"Barbra Gordon," Bruce said, making a thoughtful face. "This is a guess, but are you, by any chance, related to former commissioner James Gordon?"

"He's my father," she said. Bruce made a somewhat shocking face although he knew who she was.

"So, why have you come here? Something tells me you are probably looking for an internship program," Bruce said as he sat down. "Look, kid. I don't mean to sound like a douche here but if it is that then you can simply talk to any of the management people in the HR."

"I am not here for an internship," she said. "I am already a graduate with a job to my liking but I suppose you already know that, Mr Wayne."

Bruce looked at her, his eyes narrowed. "What is that supposed to mean?" he asked.

"Before we get to why I am here today may I ask if this office is secure enough to not have someone hear our conversation?" she asked. Bruce looked at her with narrowed eyes.

"Are you from the media, Ms Gordon?" he asked. "There is a clear policy that legally dictates that the upper management and board members can't interact with media people without notice."

"I can assure you that I am not from media," Barbra said. "Even if I was and even if I had brought something with me to record our conversation it would've been caught out there. You have some pretty tight security for a businessman."

"I am a businessman," Bruce said. "That alone makes my job a bit risky."

"But not risky enough for you to have a near military grade sort of inspection to unknown appointments," Barbra said. "My father is an ex-military personnel. I know some stuff about it."

"Why are you here, Ms Gordon?" he asked.

"I see you are not calling security," Barbra said. "That's odd, especially since you are not thinking me as a normal person sitting in your office and the fact that you are old."

"Being old doesn't make me weak," Bruce said. "Now, I am going to ask you one last time and this time I am calling the security. "Why are you here?"

Barbra looked at him before giving out a long breath. She opened her backpack and took out a file. Opening it she took out a newspaper article and placed it on the table for Bruce to see. Bruce picked it up and looked at it. He knew what it was about. It was when he had saved one of his employees from Joker's men who had placed a bounty on his head. The article said about Bruce's reckless driving which had coincidently saved his employee's life. Bruce remembered having a little drink before so that he would be taken in as a drunk driving case. That would leave him out of doubts from the GCPD. He placed the article back on the table and looked at Barbra who now had several papers out of the file and in her hand.

"If there's one thing you should know about me, it is that I am very good with computers," she said as she placed all those papers on Bruce's tables. He saw the one on the top and knew what it was as he looked at her with an expressionless face. He then reached down under his table as Barbra noticed his movement and sat up straight slowly.

"If I wanted to aim a gun at you you'd have been long dead by now," Bruce said as he pressed a button under his table. Barbra's phone buzzed as she took it out. She noticed it had been turned off by itself. She looked at Bruce a knowing smile on her face. "EM pulse, scaled down to the expanse of this room. I'd say that's dope but it still is old tech now."

"Nothing's bad as long as it works," Bruce said.

"So how are the lights working?" she asked.

"Something to do with new tech," Bruce said. "So, I suppose you want me to tell you why Wayne Enterprises has a secret division off the books and why does it have an inventory of blueprints and designs of the equipment previously used by a vigilante of Gotham?"

"If you put it that way," Barbra said. "You shouldn't put anything in a machine that can be hacked. In today's time if you don't want to be robbed then the safest place for you to keep your valuables is not in a locker or as a digital file but buried deep underground. That should be a lesson for you."

"What are your intentions?" Bruce asked. "If you think that Wayne Enterprises was secretly helping an outlaw vigilante twenty years ago then you are…"

"Then what about those huge personal donations for the city's welfare after Batman's frequent nighttime routine?" she asked. "You've easily spent billions if not less for the damages done by the Batman over the years of his nightly crusade. Even for a man obsessed with the welfare of his city that much is just too much. Also, I did a little digging and found out that the Applied Science division," she said, pointing at the blueprint documents, "that doesn't exist officially as any part of Wayne Enterprises' divisions is completely funded by your personal earning. It is still being funded if I mean to add on to it."

Bruce looked at the girl sitting in front of him. "So what are you implying?" he asked.

"Where did you hang your cape and cowl?" she asked.

 **00000**


	9. Chapter 9

The void of the space opened up without a noise. A moment later a ship came out of it followed by a small one. Both had a set destination to reach but with different objectives. Both had waited for this moment to come. They were both looking for the same someone but with different intentions. Fortunately for both of them their destination wasn't far from this point.

00000

"He is not a good guy. That's what I assume of him," she said.

"So you tracked the signal source and it led you to two conclusions," Bruce asked.

"The one on top of this building and the other from somewhere around where you used to live," Barbra said.

"Why do you stress yourself over something like this?" Bruce asked.

"Because I want to help," Barbra said.

"Gotham doesn't need help. It can handle situations on its own now," Bruce said. "The police are finely capable of handling any situation."

Barbra sighed. "Look, if you are worried that I will spill the beans about you and Blake then you are mistaken…"

"It's not about spilling beans," Bruce said. "Jim probably knows who I was. I think he is smart enough to figure that out. The thing is he wouldn't want you to get entangled with anything dangerous. It's the same with me."

She looked down before looking back up at him again. "I can be your tech support," she said. Bruce smirked. "Should I need to remind you that I cracked your secret lair?" Bruce looked at her with a more serious face now.

"You have skills. I'll give you that. But that doesn't mean you should get yourself involved in something dangerous…"

"Did your parents want you to be a vigilante?" Barbra fired her shot. Bruce immediately stopped talking as he looked at her, his eyes narrowed with mild anger which was growing gradually. She had hit the spot. "You told your motive behind this city's welfare was not just because this city was your home but also because you wanted this city to become the city of your father's dream. Thomas Wayne did a lot of good things in his time, when he had the resources. It isn't easy being a doctor, a small time mayor and a billionaire at the same time, doing your job for the city and its people in those roles. I am sure if they were alive today they'd have stopped you all those years ago from becoming what you became."

"The Batman was a necessity for Gotham," Bruce said.

"No Mr Wayne. It wasn't!" Barbra said. "The city needed an example in the form of a face, a real hero. Not someone with a cape and cowl. What Batman did didn't improve the city's condition but actually worsened it by threatening and scaring the criminals and the corrupt. You wounded them and a wounded animal is far more dangerous when it hits."

"What are you talking about?" Bruce asked.

Barbra stood up as she opened her bag once more to fiddle around with something. "I had plans to come to this city a lot before than this but I got held up with some of my own problems," she said as she put down some pictures in front of Bruce. "There's something I think is happening inside the asylum that I think is not something normal. Everyone agrees that that place is a rat-hole with some of the biggest criminals this country has seen but it is also one of the most dangerous places." She then picked up one of the pictures and pointed to a blurred image. "This person, whom I believe is somewhat working as a guard inside that building has been in consistent duty in keeping watch over the north wing."

Bruce knew what the north wing of the asylum held. He took the picture from Barbra and looked at it. It was the image of a man. It wasn't clear. There was no way of seeing his face clearly but he was bald. He had a guard's vest on and aviators on his face to further hide his identity.

"I looked into all the guards from their website and from even deeper data inventory," Barbra said. "But I couldn't find anyone who matches his physique and what little appearance we can make out from this picture."

"From looking at this photo I can say that you hacked into their surveillance," Bruce said.

"Arkham's surveillance is something that even you know of," Barbra said. "After all, it was Fox's people who installed it after the city was stabilized from Bane's attack."

"Someone or some people are planning something," Bruce said.

"And if it includes him who is sitting on the tower in the north wing of the asylum then I suppose you know how grave this situation can be if we don't do something about it," she said.

"So why come to me?" he said after a moment's pause.

"If you are not going to take an action upon this through any means, then at least talk to Blake," she said. "I know the police won't go to the Narrows but he can. At least he can try and find out what is going on inside that building! A little information wouldn't hurt someone but if this is something bad and if we are late in stopping it then a lot of people would get hurt."

Bruce looked at the picture, his thin lips forming a frown. Being a support aside he didn't see any reasons for Barbra to lie to him. The thing that bothered him was that Blake wouldn't go there and there was no way the police would do the same so he was out of options here. He had no one else to look forward to. All he could do was talk to the authorities but then it would raise questions as to why he was interested. If there was something going on inside Arkham then they wouldn't even have enough time to do it in an appropriate manner. It would take him time to convince the police and the city authorities in ways to make them take action towards the Narrows and the people inside Arkham and catch this guy.

"If you are not in any position to do this then you can call your friend Tony," Barbra said. "I am sure he would understand your words and the authorities wouldn't mind one of the Avengers helping this city."

"The Avengers have no jurisdiction here," Bruce said, placing down the photograph. "Besides, Tony doesn't know who I was and I intend to keep it that way. Also, the Avengers are on a rough patch with the government authorities as you know as well."

"Seems a bummer despite knowing the fact that the world would need them when they will," Barbra said. "No one can deny the fact that there were costs. There were prices paid but if the Avengers weren't present at those times then these costs would've been a lot higher. You operated the same way, millions in structural damage and what not. Had you not paid for those damages by being a 'responsible' citizen of Gotham your personal worth would've definitely made you the richest man on the planet. It's a shame that Luthor and Tony are above you in that field."

"A certain African king is actually ahead in that regard, not that that is something important to know," Bruce said in a light tone. "Money is not the issue here…"

"For people like you it never is," Barbra said.

Bruce sighed. "If there really is something going on inside Arkham then I will try my best and figure out what that is. You don't have to get involved into something dangerous and get your father and me worried."

"It is so sweet that you care about me," she said with puppy dog eyes.

"I worry about your father," Bruce said. "Only I know how many times he has saved my life. I owe him my own life and I wouldn't want him to worry over anything if I can help it. If that's the least I can do."

"You respect him, don't you?" Barbra said after a minute's pause.

"You have no idea Ms Gordon."

00000

"What are we seeing here?" Swanwick said as he entered the monitoring room.

"Sir at 0300 two unidentified bogeys entered earth's orbit," one of the man sitting in front of the large screen said. "At first we thought that those were some meteors because of their sizes but then they made course change."

"One of them, a smaller one is off the radar," one of the other guys said. "The larger one is staying still but is descending from time to time at a slow rate towards the Indian ocean. On closer inspection we found this."

As the man pressed a button on his keyboard the large screen in the room showed blurred pictures of what had entered earth's atmosphere.

"The shape clearly speaks for itself," the head of the team currently on surveillance said as he walked up to Swanwick who turned to look at him with a questioning expression. "What we are looking at might be an alien spaceship."

"An alien spaceship?" Swanwick said with a raised eyebrow.

"It's no longer a secret that the aliens exist," the man said. "We experienced their attack in New York not so long ago. Also, the way these projectiles are moving, well, no meteor can do that and I am sure you know that, too, general."

"So have you tried contacting with them?" Swanwick asked.

"We don't have such technology to contact an extra-terrestrial being," the man said. "But we have tried some frequencies that we hope they'd receive and probably respond to."

"This hasn't been made public, right?" Swanwick asked.

"No. That's why we called you," the man said. "What are your orders?"

"Prevent anyone from discovering this," Swanwick said. "I'll call the President. Until then you are not to do anything with it but keep it away from any amateur photographer."

"Oh, we can assure you that this situation is clearly out of our control," the man said. Swanwick glared at him before leaving the room with his men.

00000

The Stark satellite had already picked up the incoming bogies and Tony knew about it way before than the people at NASA. He was currently looking at the projection of the ship inside his room. He was also feeling the chills in his spine as the hairs on his hands had risen up from remembering what had happened the last time the aliens had come to earth.

"What are your orders, sir?" Jarvis asked.

"Let the team know," Tony said. "And Clark as well."

"Of course, sir," Jarvis said as the hologram vanished.

00000

Blake was seeing this, too. He currently had Bruce on the line who was also looking at it through the Wayne satellite.

"So, what do you think?" Blake asked.

"You don't have to participate," Bruce said. "I am sure the Avengers are already up for it."

"Don't be a buzz-kill," Blake said.

"Your interest lies with Gotham," Bruce said.

"Gotham is as much in danger as any other city on earth right now if that this turns out to be our enemy," Blake said.

Bruce didn't say anything. He cut the call but not before he heard Blake's annoyed sigh from the other side. He looked at the small screen that was connected to Brother Eye. Things weren't looking good as he was getting a bad vibe from all of this.

00000

Cisco was beyond happy but scared at the same time. The Star Labs satellite had picked up a different signature in earth's orbit and the image that he had received had shocked him to the core. Calling the team was the first thing he did and of course Barry had arrived first with Iris. The news was soon put in front of them by Cisco making everyone, especially Barry worry about what was going to happen when the power went out.

00000

Clark had been visiting his mother the whole day. He had taken a personal day because he hadn't been able to spend some time with his mother because of the Superman stuff. As the stars had started to fill up the sky he and his mother came out of the Kent family home with Clark hugging his mother goodbye when the power was cut.

It wasn't a rare phenomenon since they were on a farm but the way the powers had gone had risen some doubts.

"Maybe the fuse blew," Martha said.

"Let me check," Clark said as he turned towards the house and opened the door to enter when the darkened corridor was filled with the light of the television following by an eerie flickering sound – "You are not alone."

00000

Fury was looking at the screen and his eye was wide open.

"We don't have many," he said.

"They'll come," Hill said from behind the table.

"That's not the point here," Fury said. "I know they'll come but will they come in time? There is no telling if we are seeing at another invasion here…" he stopped talking when the power went out and the screen started to flicker with a glitch that looked like a helmet.

00000

The news had spread like anything. Even though nothing electronic was working everyone knew that there was a possibility of another invasion. The leaders of different nations had declared martial laws and were doing anything that they could because no one knew where the attack would first happen.

The Avengers included Iron Man, Hulk, Captain, Barton and Romanoff. The others weren't there. They were waiting for the big hands or in other words Superman because they now knew why the aliens were here. They were Kryptonians and only the Avengers and those who knew Clark's identity knew about the kind of danger they were in.

"What guarantees that we all will walk out alive from this considering we only have Clark on our side while they have who knows how many on those ships," Banner had said.

The morning sun had started to come up and that had worried Tony because he knew that Kryptonians had the ability to absorb the sun's radiation to power them up. He knew this because Clark had told him. This was a threat because these Kryptonians clearly meant Clark's surrender to them. Tony didn't know what Clark would do. He hadn't been answering his calls. Jarvis had tracked his location and Tony knew he was in Kansas but he couldn't reach him. Going there in his suit was the fastest thing but he probably didn't have much time. They needed to formulate a plan in case things turned bad.

00000

Bruce looked at him with narrowed eyes.

"You can be rest assured that I am not trying to read your thoughts," John said.

"I know that because when you do so you don't do it very good," Bruce said.

"You know I told you this before that I never meant someone like you who could resist my telepathy that well," John said.

"But you can break that barrier if you want to be a little bit more serious," Bruce said. "So did you do it?"

"They are looking for him but they are not sure what he looks like considering he was still a baby when he arrived on this planet," John said. "And they have clearly been under the influence of earth's sun. we are in danger."

"That I know for sure," Bruce said. "Blake wants to go. I don't see anything that will give him an edge against those aliens if he intends to fight them. He will die."

"And that is why I have convinced him to not go," John said.

"You know he's gonna hate me for that," Bruce said.

"Doesn't he already?" John said.

"Would you go?" Bruce asked.

"Aren't you worried that it will risk my identity?" he asked.

"There won't be a risk if the people of earth are dead," Bruce said. "We don't know what Superman will do."

"He will come," John said. "Even if he is an alien, of their race, he was grown up as a human. He is amongst you all now."

"And you?" Bruce asked.

"You know my answer," John said. "I am your ally because of my promise to an old dear friend. I was loyal to him and will always be loyal to him even in his death, which was my fault."

"It wasn't," Bruce said.

"So, do you want me to go?" John asked.

"That's completely up to you," Bruce said. "What about the other one?"

"She has just one goal – to find him," John said. "From what I could find she is his family. There were a lot of broken fragments in her thoughts and memories so I couldn't know all of it but she can be helpful."

"If she finds Superman before other aliens," Bruce said.

00000

They were inside the large hall in Tony's penthouse of the Avengers' Tower. The plan they had come up with wasn't looking very much considering the enemies they were up against when Jarvis informed Tony about someone's intrusion. They knew it at once as well. Tony turned around to look Clark was standing there.

"I have just two requests from you all," Clark said.

"Which are?" Tony asked.

"Don't let any harm come to my mother," Clark said who had come there with his mother who had tears in her eyes.

"And the second?" Natasha asked.

"They are mine," Clark said before blasting out of the tower at blinding speed. No one could react to it. Martha's sniffing echoed throughout the penthouse as Natasha walked over to her to calm the old lady.

00000

Clark had guessed it right. His people were technologically advanced so tracking him from their ships wasn't anything hard to do. As he landed on the huge farm area of Smallville, he was sure if he was to engage in any sort of battle with them then there would be minimum damage.

A minute later he could see the ship. He had seen the ship before, the previous night. It was a rather huge ship, like the world engine he had seen the projection of inside the scout ship that he had found on earth. What was coming towards him was a small part of it. They were coming for him. General Zod was coming for him because of hit what he was but because of what he had. Clark knew he had the codex of the entire future population of Krypton inside of him. It was his father's doing to ensure his survival and the survival of his race.

He readied himself as the ship landed in front of him. A minute later the door opened as Clark mentally prepared himself. This would be the first time that he would be meeting his own people.

00000

"Any idea where the ship landed?" Steve asked.

"Kansas," Tony said.

"Clark," Steve said. "They went straight for him."

"What chance do we stand against those Kryptonians?" Banner asked. "Clark alone is way too powerful and now people from his world have come to earth. How are we gonna fight them?"

"We'll give it everything that we have," Steve said.

As they prepared to head towards the said direction Tony stopped. Jarvis had notified Tony about someone's approach. This someone had no resemblance of being a human as per Jarvis' bio scans.

"We have incoming," Tony said as they all stopped to look around when something came towards them from the sky.

"Maybe it's one of them," Natasha said.

Before they could say anything the person landed before them. He looked human but then he changed his form. A moment later a tall green humanoid form stood in front of them with red eyes.

"Who are you?" Tony asked, his repulsors already locked on to the target.

"I am not your enemy. My name is Jon Jonzz," the alien said. "I am a Martian and I have been living on this planet for decades."

"And we are supposed to believe you?" Tony asked.

'I am a friend of Bruce Wayne,' Jon told Tony telepathically. 'Please don't be alarmed. I can communicate telepathically and I wish you would keep this to yourself but I know your friend Bruce Wayne. If you want you can talk back to me through your thoughts.'

Tony didn't know what to say so he decided to speak up. "How can you prove it?" he asked.

Jon showed Tony images of himself and Bruce together. 'Those images are parts of memories of my time with Bruce Wayne,' Jon said before breaking the link. He then stood there silent, looking intently towards Tony.

Tony returned the look. "He's okay," he said to his team.

"We don't know who he is," Steve said.

"I know," Tony said. "I don't know if he's our friend but he is not our enemy."

"The Kryptonians are in the farmlands of Smallville, Clark's hometown. He is currently with them and is engaged in a conversation with General Zod's commander."

"Zod?" Steve asked.

"He is the one who has brought the Kryptonians to earth," Jon said. "From what I can gather, Zod was the army chief on his planet. He is a true warrior and a hard man. He wishes to have Clark work with him for the revival of Krypton…on earth."

Everyone was shocked to hear that.

"The large ship that he has brought with himself is known as the world engine," Jon said. "It has the ability of terraforming any planet as per the living conditions of the Kryptonians, seemingly higher gravity, dense atmosphere and controlled climate."

"How do you know all that?" Steve asked.

"I have the ability to look into others' minds and thoughts," Jon said. "Also, you all cannot stand up to them. The Kryptonians get powerful in the presence of the sun. Zod and his people were devoid of any sunlight where they were stranded. This makes their cells absorb the sunlight at a very fast rate, so fast that they may lose control of themselves."

"What does that mean?" Natasha asked.

"It means that if they are subjected to our solar system's sunlight then they will lose control and will be like crazy overpowered monsters," Banner said.

"How do you know him?" Tony asked, looking at Jon.

"You can ask him that question since he doesn't know that I have told you about my acquaintance with him," Jon said. "Also, you may have an ally coming shortly."

"Who?" Steve asked.

"You'll know soon enough. I called her here," Jon said. "Wait until she arrives. She will be a lot of help for you and this planet." Saying that he disappeared.

"What did you mean when you said 'how do you know him?'" Steve asked.

"He mentioned a mutual friend," Tony asked.

"Mutual to whom?" Natasha asked.

"Me and him," Tony said as Jarvis reported him of another person coming towards them.

"Someone's coming," Banner said.

This time a teenaged girl landed in front of them. They didn't know who she was but her attire gave them a pretty good idea. Tony had already guessed who she was but he could be wrong.

"Are you a friend?" Steve asked.

"I don't know," she said. "I heard someone inside my head telling me to come here. Whoever he was said that I would be meeting some people. I thought it would be my cousin."

"Cousin?" Natasha asked.

"Kal-el. He is my cousin," she said.

"She means Clark," Tony said. "Where were you?" he asked.

"You know him?" she asked. "Please take me to him. He cannot fight Zod alone. He's way too powerful."

"She is Clark's cousin?" Banner asked.

"It's a long story. I'll tell when we have time," Tony said. Hey, J?"

"Yes sir?" Jarvis responded.

"Track Clark's location. You have his bio signatures," Tony said before looking towards Clark's cousin. "What's your name?" he asked.

"My name is Kara Zor-el, one of the last remaining of the house of El from Krypton," she said.

"Alright, Kara. Can you fight?" Tony asked. Kara gave her a small smile before nodding slowly.

00000

Clark had a feeling that he wouldn't be listened. Zod's general Feora wasn't listening to him in the slightest. It appeared she was dead set to follow her general's orders. Clark thought it to be a little bit obsessive and not loyalty. He didn't know much about Zod except for what he had known from the scout ship that he had found. All he knew was that Zod was the military chief of Krypton and a very powerful man. That meant that he was dangerous and antagonizing him would not be good for this world.

"I will say again," Feora said. "General Zod demands your presence on the ship."

Clark knew avoiding a talk with Zod might lead to things taking a negative turn so he obliged. Feora lead him inside the ship which soon took off towards Earth's orbit where the mother ship was hovering.

A minute later Tony and the team arrived. There was no one. No Clark.

"They're gone," Kara said.

"Where?" Tony asked.

"Sir, the bio signature indicates that Mr Clark is on the mother ship of the Kryptonians," Jarvis said.

"Mothership?" Tony asked.

"The world engine," Kara said. "This is bad."

"And by that you mean the ship that this Zod guy has brought here to terraform the earth?" Tony asked. Kara nodded.

"Isn't there a way to destroy that ship?" Rogers asked. "I mean it's in earth's orbit. Our military missiles can easily take it down."

"The ship has an electromagnetic shield surrounding it," Kara said. "It is the most basic form of defense all Kryptonian ships have. Any electronic projectile going towards it will be rendered ineffective."

"What about you then?" Natasha asked. "You are Kryptonian, like your cousin. Surely enough you are quite powerful to simply destroy that ship."

"I can't," Kara said. "The ship's defense mechanisms won't let me. besides, I am not that powerful enough at the moment. My body has never been in the presence of this much sunlight. This is the very reason why I haven't removed my suit. If I do that than my body will quickly try to absorb the sun radiation and I might lose control. If that happens then Zod and his people wouldn't be the only ones that you'd have to worry. I think it would be better if Zod and his people didn't do the same as well. If a well-trained soldier loses his control then chaos happens."

"This is all very complicated," Natasha said.

"So what do we do now?" Banner asked. "I guess not all of us can fly to space."

"Something tells me we don't have to," Tony said, looking towards the sky from where a ship was descending towards them.

"It's Feora," Kara said.

"Who?" Natasha asked.

"Feora-ul, Zod's second in command," Kara said. "The way she shows loyalty towards him sickens me."

They prepared themselves as the ship landed before them. A moment later the door opened and Feora came out along with two others. one of them looked even larger than the Hulk.

"Oh boy, I don't wanna see him when he loses his cool," Banner said as he looked at the large Kryptonian.

"If it isn't Kara," Feora said as she approached them. "I guess General would be pleased to know more of our kind survived our doom. But why haven't you aged?"

"I was stuck in the Phantom Zone with you," Kara said.

"How?" Feora asked.

"That's none of your concern," Kara said.

"I think I make it my concern," Feora said. "You Els don't make our lives easier in the first place."

"Where is Kal?" Kara asked.

"Where he should be," Feora said. "He stole something from us. or should I say, his father stole something from us and put it inside him. Now he's just giving it back, like a responsible citizen of Krypton."

"I know that he won't give in that easily," Kara said. "You all did something to him!"

"And how do you know that?" Feora said. "You don't even know your cousin since he was a child when he ran away."

"I know you!" saying that Kara lunged towards her with an angry cry.

"She doesn't know how to control," Natasha muttered as she took out her guns.

"You think that's gonna be helpful at all?" Tony asked.

"Nothing we do will make a difference at all," Natasha said. "We don't stand a chance against these people if we don't have the Hulk or Thor here."

"I am here," Banner said timidly.

"You are, but not the other guy," Tony said. "Besides, even if you bring him out there's no guarantee that you'll be able to control him."

"Rage fuels him," Banner said. "Do I even need to be more specific?"

"Exactly," Tony said. "And that is why he is unreliable, especially in situations where we don't have a fairly large target and I mean that in the most literal sense. These people are almost our size."

"Not him," Bruce said as he lunged towards the large Kryptonian, changing into Hulk mid-way. His punch, however was stopped by the alien without an effort. The Hulk tried his best to break free but he couldn't.

"And that's even worse a news," Tony said as his visor came on and he started to hover, all of his weapons pointing towards the three targets.

Kara was struggling with Feora but they both were almost equally matched. It was either that or one of them was purposely holding back and looking from the smile of Feora it was definitely her.

"You never learnt in the class," Feora said.

"Why? You still jealous that I was the second most prominent trainee after you, and even that young?" Kara said. I joined when I was half your age and broke all of your set training records just as you were about to graduate. I still remember that look on your face quite clear even today," she added that with a smirk of her own that clearly changed to look on Feora's face into an enraged one as she grabbed Kara's punch, pulled her towards herself and made a deadlock, pinning her down. A moment later a barrage of punches rained down on Kara. The shockwaves could be felt to the nearest town.

"It's like I'm watching an anime character punching a guy," Tony said. "Damn, they are so fast." As he finished his words his scanners allowed him to dodge an incoming freight car that was targeted towards him. Tony could only dodge it in a whim of a second as a powerful punch threw him hard on the ground.

Tony spit blood as he realized the left side of his entire armor was completely gone. "Something tells me that wasn't his most powerful punch," Tony managed to say. He saw the one responsible for his condition coming towards him slowly. Tony had already called for another suit. He wondered how long it would take to get it here. Jarvis was dead in his current suit. The damage was preventing Tony to know the current status so when the Kryptonian lunged towards him with a fata punch ready to take him out Tony knew this was it for him when something came in between them followed by an ear shattering sound that sent shockwaves that broke the glass of the nearby cities in a three mile radius.

Steve had made it in time. Seeing Tony was in need he had jumped in without even thinking whether or not his shield would be able to take the impact of these people's powers. Fortunately it had withheld but the ripples that it gave out shook Steve to the core of his bones as he went down on his knees. Steve had never thought that he would ever experience something as powerful as Thor's hammer beating on his shield. This was far more powerful than that. Fortunately the shockwave had also thrown away the responsible Kryptonian quite a few yards and had gained the attention of Feora, Kara and the others as well. Kara grabbed this opportunity to put a deadlock on Feora with all of her strengths. When it didn't prove to be working Kara let go of her entire suit except for the helmet that was providing her with the air to breath in. At once she felt it. Her grip on Feora tightened to the point where it made the Kryptonian whimper in pain but Kara didn't stop there. She was angry now and the most primary instinct of a military Kryptonian had kicked inside her – Rage. And Kara had anger issues – probably an outcome of being genetically engineered to be a soldier. Feora's painful cries fell on Kara's deaf ears as she ripped off Feora's neck that fell on the ground, drowning in her red blood.

Kara fell on her knees, shivering with all the sun radiation that her body was absorbing at the moment. The other two Kryptonians had backed now seeing the remains of their second-in-command. One of them pressed a button on his wrist as he backed away.

Tony and Banner were the first to see this. They were distracted by Kara's sheer power with which she had ripped Feora's head off. It had created a small shockwave.

The fall of their field leader made the other Kryptonians slow down as they looked on to the fallen body of Feora. Then they looked at Kara who was still on her knees, struggling to regain control of this new experience. She had kept her eyes closed. For some reason they burned. She felt a burning pain in them.

"Kara! Do not open your eyes!" Tony had screamed. His new armor had come to him. It was a more bulkier version of his Mark II suit. Tony had been using it as a reference to build a prototype for the Hulk-buster. Since the buster wasn't ready yet Tony had this suit that could take the most hits in any battlefield. But seeing these creatures Tony doubted this suit would last any longer.

"What's wrong with her?" Banner had asked.

"Her eyelids are glowing red," Tony said. "Clark, has the same glow when he uses the lasers. She's not in control at the moment. Her cells are absorbing the radiation like anything. At this rate those eye lasers could be devastating."

"Think your shield can hold it off?" Banner asked, looking at Steve who gestured the 'I don't know' gesture.

"I can try," Steve said.

"Take cover," Tony said. "I don't think she can listen to us right now."

"Will they let us?" Natasha asked, looking at the other Kryptonians.

"We have no choice," Tony said. "Clark might be in danger on their ship as we know it. We'll have to do this on our own…."

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!."

They all turned to look at Kara who was on her feet and firing thick, uncontrolled eye lasers towards the empty sky. A moment later she stopped, opening her eyes after a few blinks. The laser beams had destroyed her helmet and that was causing her to breathe a bit raggedly but she had somehow managed.

"I'm fine," she said in a ragged voice. "Focus on those three. Feora's no danger anymore."

"You made sure of that," Natasha said.

"You got a problem with that?" Kara asked.

"No problems at all," Natasha replied.

"Alright, we've got things to focus on, people," Steve said. "I don't think I can defend myself for much longer with my shield only. Your people have too much power for even the vibranium to handle."

"Whatever you do, just don't let them come out of their suit," Kara said. "If that happens even I will vouch for the possibility of their win against us all because I know how I am feeling right now."

"Are you in control?" Tony asked.

"Barely," Kara said. "Let's finish up here and then let's go see Clark. Hope he's alright up there."

They all took positions. Natasha and Clint changed their arsenals from lethal to tranquillizers. Lethal in their vocabulary was nothing for these Kryptonians. They then found places to snipe from. Of course they knew if their hideouts were blown then they wouldn't even have time to run away.

00000

He had seen it all through the satellites. There were people who were in danger. The way these people were fighting it didn't matter that those Kryptonians weren't in the city's vicinity. Even their punches created lethal shockwaves.

It had been a very difficult discussion with his team but they had finally agreed to him. The terms, however, were very clear. Completely avoid getting into the fight, even by mistake or he was dead in a second. His only priority was getting the people out of there because he was confident that even those Kryptonians weren't close enough to his normal speed. And with that confident Barry Allen Ran towards Smallville as fast as he could.

'Don't get involved in the fight,' Barry had it running inside his head although secretly he wished meeting even one of the Avengers would make his day.

00000

Jon was doing everything he can. The fight had taken a serious turn. He knew Kara had joined the fight with her newfound powers from absorbing the sun radiation directly now but there was now the Hulk as well. Fortunately enough a solid punch from one of the Kryptonians had Hulk focused on a certain target – the Kryptonian who had punched him. But that had brought them two inside the small town on the outskirts of Smallville and that was why Jon was there. He was doing everything in his power to get the people to safety although he wondered how effective his efforts would be when he heard him coming towards his direction. Focusing from all the hues and cries of the people running around him and the rampaging fights taking place he mentally formed a telepathic connection with the flash.

Barry almost fell down running at high speed when he heard a voice inside his head that he didn't recognized. It was an unfamiliar voice but it needed his assistance with the evacuation. When talking telepathically it was much easier for Jon as he could talk lengths in just a few seconds. He knew that especially in the case of Barry Allen so that came in handy because as soon as Jon had finished talking to him Barry had reached the city and was standing below Jon, who was currently in the air, surveying for any people in immediate assistance.

"Who are you?" Barry asked, looking towards Jon.

"Not important right now," Jon said. "How fast can you take these people out of harm's way?"

"How many are left?" Barry asked.

"Many," Jon said. "I'll be in contact with you the whole time, prioritizing whom to save first. Can you be as fast as my thoughts?"

"I'll try," Barry said with a confident face as Jon gave him locations of the first people who needed to be taken out of harm's way and Barry wasted no time.

00000

This was the first time that someone was able to hurt him so bad that even Banner could feel the pain. Bruce knew that his other persona, the hulk, had the tendency to get more stronger every time he was punched or hurt but this guy's punches were really painful, not to mention fast. The Hulk wasn't getting enough time to even get on his feet. His visions were blurry and for the first time he had bled. But the pain that he was experiencing had made him experience a new thing, too – a more controlled sense of his Hulk form. Banner could actually think when he was feeling the pain from the alien assault. This had allowed him to think of something, like dodging the incoming attacks that he managed for some time.

He even managed to speak out a few words. He had not thought it was possible at all before but maybe getting hurt being Hulk was a good thing after all. In those mere moments of painfully gained senses Bruce noticed he had been separated from the rest of his team. He and the Kryptonian were out in the farm fields away from the town. For one thing it was good. It meant not many people would get hurt but it also meant that Bruce won't get any backup if he was down. He had no earpiece. The transformation made sure of that. Bruce wondered what he could do. There was no way he could defeat this guy all by himself. None could defeat these people except for maybe Clark and his newly arrived cousin who was definitely busy fighting the other two Kryptonians.

As the Hulk managed himself on his shaky feet the Kryptonian flew towards him at blinding speed. He was badly wounded, bleeding from almost everywhere. Managing to stay on his feet was a miracle for him. Bruce didn't know if he would survive the incoming attack. He closed his eyes, the only thing he could do at the moment when he felt the sharp pain shoot across his entire body. He wondered if he would've been vaporized by the sheer strength of the punch had he not been in the hulk form. He had blacked out the moment the Kryptonian's punch connected to him but he did manage to see a blue stroke flying towards him. He had returned. Banner collapsed after going through countless buildings and a fuel pump of the nearby town hoping these beings would leave their planet alone. He also wondered if he would die today. Was there anyone he could remember as family? He had no family. As he exhaled raggedly he tried to remember the face of his new friends but he couldn't.

00000

Barry could see the horror. Although very few in number these beings were crazy strong and he had overheard one of the Avengers say that if completely exposed to the sun they might get even stronger. Thankfully Cisco had hacked into the frequency that the Avengers were using to communicate through. Although Stark had his Jarvis team Flash had Gideon, an artificial intelligence program from the future. The team had never really used Gideon for anything except for when they first found out about it when looking for who the Reverse Flash was.

Barry had already lost count of the number of people he had pulled out of the danger zones. The green guy calling himself John was instructing him with multiple targets at a time and Barry was able to clearly understand it all. John would inform him about ten different places where people needed rescuing from at once and Barry understood it quite clearly. Maybe it was one of the quirks of being a telepath. Who knew? Barry and his team had multiple experiences with the metahumans in his city but these were different. These were aliens, just like this John guy who had told him that he was an alien from Mars. Barry didn't know Mars even supported life. Guess the people of NASA would be pleased to know that a martian was saving the humans from another alien attack while they stupidly remote controlled their rovers on the red planet.

"You've got about a hundred more to go," John's voice rang inside Barry's head. Barry nodded mentally before running towards the next set of coordinates.

00000

Tony and the others had been lucky all this time for the remaining Kryptonians had their attention towards Kara who was proving to be a formidable enemy. On top of that her exposure the earth's sun had made matters worse for the Kryptonians. She alone was handling the two of them. Tony had called in additional suits that he had made so far just as a precaution. They had all surrounded the area, hovering in the sky, their weapons aimed at the two Kryptonians Kara was fighting.

Bruce had been missing since he had transformed. They wondered where he was because if they went far and towards the limits of the cities then it would be much worse. Tony had Jarvis scanning for Banner but it was hard enough to keep track of the Kryptonians fighting. Tony had Jarvis' almost entire processing power focused on the two Kryptonians fighting Kara in case they came towards them. If one day the humans succeeded in finding a way to beat or at least be at par with these Kryptonians then it would be helpful to know their way of fighting and it was for this reason Tony had Jarvis give almost all of its attention towards the fight, their moves and everything he could gather.

"Sir, I've located Mr Banner," Jarvis had spoken up after a minute.

"Where is he?" Tony asked.

"He is in the vicinity of Smallville, currently not breathing but he is somehow alive, although barely holding."

"Is he back to normal?" Tony asked.

"Yes, sir," Jarvis said.

"Good. Send two of the sentinels to rescue him," Tony said. "Get him to the Tower and contact Helen Cho for medical assistance. She is the only doctor who somewhat understands Banner's anatomy."

At once two of the sentinels flew towards a common direction. None gave attention towards it until Jarvis informed Tony that Banner seemed to be moving very fast. Tony wondered if Clark was back.

00000

Barry had arrived at the place John had asked him to. He had removed every single individual out of harm's way and now only one remained. As he reached towards that person he noticed something coming towards the general direction. Reaching the fallen man he stopped and a moment later couldn't believe his eyes.

"Sup….Superman!" Barry managed to say.

Clark looked at the man. Although with the weird outfit Clark knew who he was. The scarlet speedster of Central City. Clark had Olsen write an article over the incidences happening in Central City when his name had come up.

"You are Flash, right?" Superman asked.

"You…You know who I am?" Barry said.

"The Scarlet Speedster of Central City," Superman said with a smile. "Yes, I know."

Barry blushed but then looked down and was shocked to see Bruce Banner lying in a horrible shape. After the events of New York everyone knew and recognized who the Avengers were. Even Bruce Banner had revealed his human look to the media. Seeing him lying down in a pool of blood was a bad sign indeed. Barry knew about the strengths of the hulk. If even the Hulk was unable to stand up to these guys then it definitely was a lost cause.

"I need to take him to a hospital," Barry said. "He's not breathing." He reached to his earpiece. "Caitlyn, I need help." He said over the earpiece.

Clark looked as the man in red talked over his earpiece to probably one of his team members. He then took out what appeared to be a round disk of about two inches in diameter and place it carefully on Banner's chest. The disk glowed. Clark could clearly hear the person on the other side of the earpiece.

"Alright, I've the bio scans of him," Caitlyn said looking at the monitor. The data made her eyebrows rise up. "So this is how you become when you are immune to gamma radiation," she said before pressing the button to talk to Barry. "Barry?"

"Yeah," Barry answered.

"Give him a jolt of your electricity," Caitlyn said on the earpiece. "That'll bring him back to consciousness. Also, if you can try, please bring me a sample of his blood."

"But you know how dangerous a gamma infused blood can be," Barry said.

"We don't have enough time," Superman said. "Do whatever you have to do but do it fast."

"Who's that?" Cisco asked.

"That's Superman," Barry said.

Cisco said something unintelligible on the earpiece before what it seemed like he walked out of the room. "Caitlyn?" Barry asked.

"He's in shock that you got to meet Superman," she replied. "Are you ready?"

"Yeah," Barry said before standing up and taking a few steps back. He then rubbed his hands as yellow lightning sparkled through his hands and just like a defibrillator he brought both his palms over Banner's bare chest and placed them firmly on top of it. it was a rather overpowered jolt but that's what Caitlyn had asked Barry to do. With one shock Barry moved back as Banner's eyes open with bright green pupils. That scared Barry. For a moment he thought that Banner might change but then it went back to normal. A moment later a breath intake and Banner woke up for good this time. He coughed coarsely before trying to sit up but his body didn't let him.

"Stay down," Clark said, placing a hand on Banner's shoulder. "You're badly injured. Don't say anything or it might make you worse. Flash, take him to the Tower."

"The…The Avengers' Tower?" Barry asked. "But I might not have the clearance."

"I do," Banner said in a low, coarse voice but then soon regretted it.

"Problem solved," Clark said. "Now go!"

Barry nodded before carefully picking Banner up and then he was gone with the blink of an eye, leaving a train of dust behind him. Clark watched them go away before looking at two mechanical humanoids coming towards his direction. They were Stark's sentinel bots.

00000

"He's alright," Clark said over the mike in the sentinel's hand.

Tony acknowledged. "Do you trust him?" he asked, referring to the speedster.

"From what I can say and from what your friend John said after Banner and he left, he removed all of the people from harm's way," Clark said. "So, what's going on down there?"

"You might as well come here, buddy," Tony said with a tired sigh. "It doesn't look like we are anything of a challenge to your people."

Clark cursed in his thoughts. "But then how did you survived this long?" he asked.

"Oh, about that. I think you will have a family reunion today," Tony said before the call was cut.

Clark blasted off towards where Tony and the rest were fighting. He had somehow made it out of Zod's ship and he knew the real threat hadn't even started yet. He could not see Zod but only at one time when he was brought inside his ship. Zod had plans to build a new Krypton here, on this planet and if that ever happened then the humans will all die. It would be an extinction of all life forms from this planet.

Clark reached the zone in a matter of seconds. He could see Tony, Steve and others there but the Kryptonians weren't in sight. He then heard sonic booms and looked up in the sky. Using his enhanced vision he looked at the ongoing battle taking place amongst the clouds. Then his eyes stopped on the bloodied body of Feora.

There was someone fighting the Kryptonians and probably winning but whoever he was they were doing it recklessly.

"We found your cousin," Tony said the moment Clark came and stood beside him. He turned to look at him but couldn't speak out of the surprise of the news. "She's the reason their general is in that state."

"How did it happen?" Clark asked because he was positive whoever his cousin was she was not this powerful to just rip off someone's head off.

"It's the sun," Tony said. "She took off her armor and it fueled her strength like anything. It seemed she was in pain, too."

"My parents taught me to home my senses," Clark said as he started walking towards the fallen body of Feora. "I was taught to calm my senses down, focus on one thing at a time and slowly but steadily I learned how to control them all, even surviving in this atmosphere. I think it was because of this planet's sun that it was possible. Did Kara took off her visor, too?"

"No, just the armor," Tony said.

"She'll have trouble breathing in if she decides to take it all off," Clark said.

"Where were you?" Steve asked, coming to stand beside him.

"On Zod's ship," Clark said. "His intentions would result in annihilation of this planet."

"We know," Tony said. "What can we do?"

"Nothing," Clark said. "If you are thinking about fighting Zod and his people then forget about it. no offence but you wouldn't be able to live before an enemy Kryptonian, far less fight it but you can help in other ways. There's no possible way that I will be able to take them all on myself either so I intend to send them all from where they came."

"Which is where?" Natasha asked.

"The Phantom Zone," Clark said. "It is where Zod and his people were sent as a punishment to going against the council of our planet when Krypton was about to be destroyed."

"This Phantom Zone sounds like a bad place," Clint said.

"Nothing goes in there," Clark said. 'From what my father's conscious could tell me it is a different dimension where time plays no role. This is the reason why Zod and his people are in their prime, just like on the day they were banished into the nothingness."

"Sounds like a type of singularity," Tony said.

"How do we open it?" Steve asked.

"My father said that this would help," Clark said, showing them the key with the El house sigil. "We insert it in any one of the Kryptonian ship and then crash it with another one."

"Crashing one ship to another…I don't see how it works opening a black hole," Tony said.

"Zod's ship or rather ships have an energy sphere protecting it," Clark said. "This is the reason why I can't just barge inside the ship using my strength or neither of you or any weapon. This key also acts as a switch. When I inserted it in Zod's ship where I was held captive it downloaded my father's AI into the ship's mainframe, altering its codes and energy division throughout. Zod's ship currently has my father 's conscious so crashing it into another ship of Zod's will create the singularity."

"Another ship?" Tony asked.

"The huge ship where Zod is actually separates into two more," Clark said. "The world engines. Zod plans to place those world engines on either poles of earth and then initiate the terraforming process by altering earth's magnetic fields and the core density."

"How long until he does that?" Steve asked.

"Not long," Clark said. "We have to figure out a way to get inside that ship."

Just then Kara landed beside them. She was bleeding but not so much, just a few scratches. She looked at Clark and tears formed in her eyes as she hugged him with her life. Clark felt the physical pressure of her strength around him.

"You've changed so much!" she said, sniffing. "Look how big you've grown!" she said, breaking the hug. "You probably won't remember me."

"I do remember you," Clark said. "My father's conscious mentioned you in one of his talks."

"Conscious?" Kara said.

"That's a long story. I'm glad you're safe," Clark said.

"I should be the one saying that," Kara said. "I am supposed to be the overprotective cousin."

"Um, I don't mean to interrupt but could you guys settle your family conversation after we've defeated these guys?" Tony said.

Clark and Kara looked towards where others were looking. A ship came and landed in front of them. The door opened and Zod walked out, all alone.

"Sir, the satellite just picked up two massive bogies, each heading towards the north and south pole," Jarvis said.

"It's happening," Tony said. "He just launched the world engine."

"And he's here to ensure that we are not stopping his plans from taking any effect," Kara said.

"What can we do?" Clint asked.

"Kara, Clark, can you both take care of him?" Steve asked.

"Leave him to us," Kara said, taking a front stand.

"Alright. Stark, Romanoff, we have the world engines," Steve said. "Can you help us get there?" he asked, looking at Tony.

Tony looked at them all. He then raised his wrist as a screen popped out where he pressed something. Three sentinels came flying towards them. "Get inside," Tony said. "We just need to destroy one of them, right?" he asked, looking towards Clark who nodded. "Alright. We're going at Santa's."

They all flew towards North Pole as fast as they could. Zod made an attempt but his path was blocked by Kara and Clark. "You two disappoint me as Kryptonians!" Zod said. "Maybe I'll consider being merciful towards you once I build a new Krypton here from the codex that I've received from your blood, Kal-el. And I remember you," he said, looking at Kara. "You held such potential, the first one in the house of El to be given a warrior's genome. Can you bear the thought of sacrificing the chance that can bring all of our kind back?"

"Nothing but my family matters to me," Kara said.

"Then I'll start with him," Zod said, blasting off towards Clark who did not expect the attack coming. The tackle took Clark far towards the open fields where Zod thrust him towards the ground as he pushed him harder while flying. It wasn't hurting Clark but the dirt and soil was making it difficult for him to see properly so when Zod started a rain of punches on his face it became paramount for Clark to get out of his grips because those punches hurt. As he struggled they both were pushed away by Kara who had followed them soon after. Clark landed after a few rough bounces while Kara took Zod high up into the air and throwing him down landed a powerful punch in his gut that made the general bend down as he plummeted towards earth at blinding speed. His landing created a crater hundreds of meters deep and the shockwave rippled the ground.

Kara landed beside Clark as he managed to get himself up. Fortunately he wasn't bleeding but those punches definitely made his head feel the pain. "You're quite strong," he said, looking at Kara.

"I was born with genes designed for soldiers," she said.

"I know," Clark replied. "I came to know about it on Zod's ship."

"Speaking of which," Kara said as Zod jumped out of the hole and towards the sky. He had somehow figured it out how to fly. Even Kara hadn't figured it out. That clearly showed how capable Zod was as an individual and more worthy being the general of Krypton's military force.

"What's he doing?" Kara asked.

"He's trying to absorb the sunlight," Clark said. "But wouldn't that be near impossible with his armor on?"

"Even I felt the sun when I was wearing my armor," Kara said. "The gravity isn't the only factor that I am almost like you on this planet. Our armor suits aren't designed to completely block the sun radiation. it is important for us Kryptonians so small quantities of radiation always slips in through the armor."

"We have to stop him, then," Clark said. "I hope Tony and the rest have managed to figure it out to stop that world engine."

00000

The Avengers had already seen what Clark had meant that the world engine was supposed to alter the entire planet's gravity and magnetic field. Whatever missiles Tony had fired towards the huge ship had been pushed down due to the sheer gravitational pull that generated every time the ship fired off the bluish-white beam towards the ground. The water and ice from the surroundings were risen up and then pushed down every three second. Tony had even tried when the beam wasn't pushing down but then the invisible electro-static shield around the ship prevented the missiles form damaging it. There were also attempts by some of the fighter jets sent in by some countries to help assist the Avengers but until now they had all been useless. Tony wondered how they were going to stop this madness as it was a race against time. With every moment the impact radius was increasing. As he tried to think seriously something crossed his thoughts. He looked where the ship was firing the beam from. It was the only place that wasn't protected by the shield. But with the gravity beam in function he wondered if they would be able to advantage from this weak spot.

"I have a solution, but it isn't something that you all are going to like," Tony said.

They all turned to look towards him as Tony began to explain them what he had discovered and hot it will help them.

00000

Bruce watched with keen eyes. His personal satellite that was equipped with the world's finest technologies allowed him to see live feeds of any and everything going on the planet. Right now he was seeing two things taking place – the fight between the three Kryptonians and the Avengers preparing a suicide plan – that's what it looked like to him. Bruce wondered if they will be able to succeed. He had also tasked his satellite to run several scans on the mother ship that had now been divided into two portions, each currently at either poles of the planet. The scans showed him some remarkable information and discoveries. He quickly started typing some keys on the large keyboard as his mind began to work fast. It didn't matter if those invading Kryptonians won or not. This would be a long night for Bruce Wayne.

00000

Peter gulped as he watched the barely recorded footage that some news reporters had managed to capture. None was going to the place where the fight was going on. These people were crazy strong. The word was that these people were from the same world Superman was from. Peter knew how strong Superman was from seeing his heroic duties on the news and the internet. The way he had thrown away that Chitauri ship and the ships that were of SHIELD's, Peter thought it wouldn't even surprise him if it was revealed that Superman was a lot more powerful than that.

The people were panicking. There were debates going on news channels where 'experts' were debating whether or not Superman will win and how catastrophic it would be if he or the Avengers lost this fight. Speaking of which, Peter had noticed that the Avengers weren't on the site where the fighting was taking place and there was a female fighting probably alongside Superman. Also there were only three people fighting now. Maybe there were more people like the Superman living on this planet. But the news was that these people had arrived here from another planet. Then that meant that Superman was an alien. Somehow it didn't surprise Peter that much because of how strong Superman was. But that meant that these new arrivals were as strong as him so there was a probability of him losing this fight. Once that was decided then it wouldn't matter which Avenger stood in front of this new threat or which country's government decided to fight it. Nothing would matter because of how strong these people were.

With the media people unable to cover the incident properly Peter thought to get out there himself but then he decided otherwise. If the Avengers were finding it hard to handle then who was he?

He sat there in his room only hoping that humanity didn't lose today.

00000

Zod was proving to be a difficult challenge, considering the fact that Clark and Kara were two people while he was just one. His moves were just too fast for them and while Kara and Clark were sure they were more powerful than him, Zod's fighting experience was proving otherwise. He was swift, quick, strong and ruthless. They both had experienced it when Zod had managed to land a few punches on both of them. His attacks were precise and calculated. If this went on for too long they both were sure that they might lose to him. There wasn't anyone on this planet other than them two who had a chance to defeat Zod.

"I pity you both," Zod said. "You are trying to protect this puny little race that is so weak! Together we could've built our new home here but you've proven yourselves unfit to be called Kryptonians!"

"We want Krypton to survive but not over the lives of others!" Clark said. He remembered how his real father had told him that he could be, one day, a reason for the survival and initiation of a new Krypton and its people. It had surprised him when he came to know how his people changed the different planets for their own capabilities, to support their own lives while never considering the cost of it – the lives that were lost in doing so. If there ever arose a chance that a new Krypton could be made without the loss of any life then Clark would support it completely but until then Earth was his home. He had people here who cared about him. He wouldn't let them be hurt – be it humans or Kryptonians or anyone else.

"I don't think we have any other choice on our hands other than killing him," Kara suggested.

"We are not killing him," Clark said.

"Then how do you think we can subdue him?" she asked. "This planet doesn't have anything powerful enough to hold a Kryptonian, far less someone who's getting stronger every moment due to a younger sun."

Clark knew Kara had a point but still taking a life meant a burden that he knew would haunt him for times to come. But if not by doing that Zod became to reason to be the death of others then maybe Clark thought that he was ready to make that decision.

"I know killing is hard," Kara said. "Even I haven't killed anyone."

"You're fifteen," Clark said.

"But still, technically older than you, dear cousin," she said but then stopped as she looked with terrified eyes. "No!"

Clark saw it too but before he or Kara could do anything it was too late. Zod had taken off his armor and now only a thin fabric covered his body, providing little to no obstruction to the sun's radiation. at once he felt the effects as he fell down, writhing in the pain that his body generated due to his cells drowning in the radiation of a younger sun. A minute later he felt as if he was someone else as Zod stood up and hovered a few inches off the ground, finally preparing to take off his helmet.

"You'd die if you take off your helmet, Zod!" Clark shouted.

Zod only laughed slowly. "Do you even know how many battles I've fought and won, Kal?" he said. "On how many planets we went to and made allies and enemies?"

The two watched in horror as he completely took off his helmet and dropped it on the ground.

"We Kryptonians have a very special ability to adapt to a planet's atmosphere if we are exposed to it long enough," he said but then doubled down and let out a loud cry of pain. His hands went over his ears, pressing them as if his life depended on it. "Wha…What is happening to me?" he managed to ask.

"What's going on?" Kara asked, looking at Clark.

"Don't take off your helmet, Kara," Clark said.

"Why?" she asked.

"I experienced the same thing," Clark said. "Under earth's sun our senses heighten to an astonishing level. That is the reason why we can fire from our eyes, see and hear things that are far off.. Right now Zod's experiencing the same thing but with all of it coming to him at once and that, too, rather forcefully he can't seem to handle it."

"So let's finish him while we have the chance," she said.

"No," Clark stopped her. "He's far more dangerous at the moment. His cells are drinking in the radiation. His attacks will be full of power and out of control."

Kara stopped and watched as Zod writhed in pain.

"It hurts. Doesn't it?" Clark said. "You shouldn't have taken off your helmet, Zod. With all of your senses heightened at once it will be difficult for you to concentrate…" he never got to finish his sentence as powerful pair of red beams fired off right at him. Clark felt it – the burn straight on his chest as he cried in pain. He tried to control himself and get out of the beam's path but could not. He was currently being pushed away by Zod's beam at blinding speed. He didn't know where he was going but one thing he knew that it wasn't going to be good in any way.

Kara could not believe how fast Zod had been. Neither she nor Kal had been able to see his moves. She didn't know if Kal was alright or not because as soon as Zod had dealt with him he came for her and Kara could not move out of fear. Zod caught her from her neck and lifted her off the ground.

"We can thrive on this planet," Zod said in a deep voice. "Your cousin might be stubborn but you can still change your mind. Join me and together we will create a new Krypton here. Once our plan succeeds for our people I promise you I will forgive your cousin for his betrayal to his people. Join me and together we will re-build our home."

"Gross," Kara said as she fired off her eye beams. They hit Zod straight on his face but he didn't budge. A moment later she realized he had stopped hers with his own and it looked as if he wasn't even trying. A second later she felt those painful burns on her chest as she was thrown away by Zod's beams. She didn't go far but landed rather hard on the ground as Zod came for her, caught her by the neck. Plummeting her on the ground he showered her with a barrage of punches. She couldn't even get a chance to scream for help. Those punches hurt. She hadn't been in a real fight before. Although she had the genes of a Kryptonian soldier she hadn't spent much in her training sessions. As per the rules on her world she was still too young and so all she was allowed to train on were in simulators. There was only one time that she had – coming top in her group – been given a chance to have a sparring session with Feora. It was a three round and she lost two of them but the last round was Kara's as she had, by then, understood how Feora fought and she had then defeated Feora rather hard. The deputy general of Krypton's military and defense had a humiliating defeat that day and ever since then the two had been enemies although Kara didn't want it like that. She had always looked up to Feora. Being a woman and second-in-command of Krypton's forces was a great honor to serve for. If Feora was capable of doing that then she certainly was a strong individual on her own.

Everything being said Kara had never fought or even sparred with Zod so when he had plummeted her on the ground with a shower of highly evolved and powerful punches she couldn't not help herself but be scared and weak. She had always feared him. Everyone on Krypton feared him because of his strictness and complete fairness in selecting for Krypton's forces. He was impartial to no one and being given the power to select Krypton's army on his own accords did give him rights to choose anyone he wished. And Zod chose only the best. There was no one as loyal like him for his world, for his people. He despised the Council as they never gave him a chance to be one of them so he had to do with Krypton's military force and he gave it his all.

Kara felt the metallic taste in her mouth and knew she was bleeding. She needed to stop him but how? He was just too powerful and she had no idea how he fought. Back on Krypton she had heard a lot about him. How he was the most powerful man on Krypton. When not together even the Council members feared him. Having that kind of effect on anyone definitely required someone to be strong and not just physically. She literally worshipped him back on Krypton and carrying a dream of becoming his second in command Kara wanted to work beside him, for him. She knew there was no one other than Zod himself who would bring glory to Krypton.

Clark woke up. He didn't remember when he had blacked out but he found himself rather far from where Zod and he were fighting. "Kara!" he suddenly remembered and floated up. Closing his eyes he concentrated on his hearing senses and heard a series of rather fast and loud poundings on the ground. It must be them and Clark was getting a bad vibe from the sound that he had just heard. Turning towards the direction of the sound he blasted off at blinding speed.

Kara could feel unconsciousness taking over her. She didn't know how long she will be able to take this. Zod was blind with rage and she had been his target for over a minute now. He had hurt her rather bad and with her mind and body not working properly she couldn't even flee. She had stopped screaming long ago as she was covered with blood everywhere. With her breath ragged and completely broken body she realized she was lying in a deep crater. It must be about a few hundred meters deep. That hard had Zod hit her. With her blurry vision she saw Zod floating upwards, his eyes closed. She didn't know what he was going to do but she knew this – she was dead now.

"Be safe, Kal," she managed to mumble as she closed her eyes but the attack never came. Opening them slowly she saw there was no Zod.

Zod was concentrating hard to fire a powerful laser beam off of his eyes to end the traitor once and for all so when he was tackled hard he was not prepared to dodge or stop it. he was taken off-guard with the attack. It was Kal.

Clark pushed him with all his might, not seeing where he was going as he tackled Zod through a series of buildings – destroying them completely on his way – finally throwing him hard on the ground in the middle of the city. He was too focused to see where he had brought Zod but he didn't care. Reaching for his earpiece he opened the channel.

"Tony," he said.

"Clark?" Tony replied.

"I need Kara out of here," he said. "She needs help."

"Give me a minute," Tony said as he avoided the tentacle-like thing that had come out of the world engine, protecting it from any danger. Tony instructed one of his sentinels to take Kara to Helen Cho back at the Tower.

As their conversation ended Clark was punched hard in the gut by Zod. He doubled over, spitting blood. That was a hard punch. If Zod had beat Kara with such strong punches then Clark wondered in what condition she was right now. He caught another punch coming towards him before taking them both up in the sky. After everything Zod was still not good enough at flying so Clark thought maybe flying would give him an upper hand. They both could feel the air thin-out but while Zod was accustomed to it with him being all experienced in battles it was Clark who was feeling the effect. His move might turn up against him.

"You think flying up will increase your chances of winning then you're terribly mistaken," Zod said as he freed himself from Clark's grip, caught his cape and threw him hard towards the buildings after a few rounds mid-air.

00000

Bruce had received the call the moment the Kryptonians had entered the vicinity of Metropolis. It was the nearest city from Smallville where the fight had reached. The authorities were dispatched, their objective to evacuate as much area as quickly. Anyone could get caught in this fiasco and to think that only two people were fighting with each other with this much destruction on their way terrified Bruce for the people who were caught in the middle of it.

The news was covered with the battle now taking place in the city of Metropolis. A good numbers of buildings had already been destroyed. As he watched through various channels his personal phone rang in his pocket. It was his secretary.

"Yes," Bruce answered the call.

"Mr Wayne, our people are stuck there," the secretary answered from the other side. "The Wayne branch of Metropolis has been caught up in all of the destruction. May people are stuck. I'm hearing some have already died."

"Are the authorities there?" Bruce asked.

"They are trying to get in but the way's been blocked by debris," the secretary said.

"Who's in charge there right now?" he asked.

"Mr Colbert," the secretary answered.

"Connect me to him," Bruce said.

A moment later Bruce was connected to Rick Colbert.

"Hello?" Rick answered the call.

"Rick, it's Bruce Wayne," Bruce said.

Rick thought maybe he was dead already. The owner of Wayne Enterprises was personally calling him. "Mr…Mr Wayne?"

"Listen to me very carefully," Bruce said. "I want you to take everyone out of the building. Head for the terrace. I've sent four choppers to rescue you guys from there…" the call was disconnected with some interference as something hit the building very hard. The people stuck in the room cried in fear as another shock followed a moment later.

"Everyone, move to the stairs!" Rick shouted. "Boss wants us on the roof. Leave everything and move. Now!"

The rush that followed after that was something to see. People, panicking, ran towards the stairs. Thankfully it wasn't narrow. Rick waited there as the others left. His phone was still in his hand as he started mumbling something which followed with an audible 'Amen'. By the time he finished a pair of thick laser beams went through the building, swiping off everything, vaporizing everything it came in contact with. Rick felt the slight heat before the building was destroyed.

Bruce had climbed on to the chopper when he received the call. He clutched his phone so hard it cracked slightly in his hand. He knew going there would now achieve nothing but he had found something out and he somehow felt he needed to be there – to see them with his own two eyes.

He signaled the pilot who pedaled the chopper into the air before it started heading towards Metropolis.

00000

One of the sentinels sent in by Tony managed to get Kara out of danger as it headed with her towards the Avengers Tower. Helen Cho had already been told about an incoming alien patient with no one having any idea about how to save her. She was told just one thing – Kryptonian cells became strong under sunlight. As she pondered over how to save her out of the world patient the sentinel arrived and entered her lab with an unconscious female alien body. It was weird seeing she looked like a human female but Helen had seen how strong Superman was. If she was from his world then she was just as strong.

"I have been instructed to help you in any way, Dr. Cho," Jarvis said from inside the sentinel.

Cho nodded before telling the sentinel to put the female on the operating table. She tried to insert a syringe to take a blood and DNA sample but the needle bent. She huffed in frustration. How was she supposed to help her if she couldn't even get inside her? Then an idea struck her.

"Bring all the UV emitters from the floor below," she instructed the sentinel. Find as many as you can and bring them here quickly. I might as well try the most stupid thing in my entire career. I don't think people are going to believe when I put 'Operated on an alien female' as one of my achievements in my resume."

The sentinel went out and came back in some time later. There were four powerful UV emitters in its hands. Cho instructed it to place the emitters carefully around the operating table where Kara was lying. She didn't know if this was going to work but she couldn't do anything else considering the fact that it was an alien anatomy she was facing at the moment.

As she turned on the emitters it took in so much electric power that the entire tower felt them turn on but Tony's reactor managed it a moment later as the emitters now worked at full power.

"I need to get out of here," she said to herself. "This amount of UV is dangerous for me," she said as she exit her lab and went to an adjacent room all protected from any sort of radiation. She watched from the one-way mirror and was surprised when the wounds on the alien female's body started to heal. At this rate she would be fine in no time. "For some reason I envy this alien race's ability to heal," she muttered as she informed Tony that Kara will be fine in no time.

00000

It was only Tony who was able to keep those tentacles busy. With the help of his remaining sentinels, which weren't much left at all, he had distracted the alien ship's attention towards himself but it wasn't helping their cause at all. There was no way Steve or anyone else could destroy that thing while it was operating. The gravity beam that it fired wasn't even allowing them to stand nor fly properly. Tony had redirected about sixty percent of his suit's powers to his thrusters which was saying a lot considering his thrusters managed very well in about twelve percent. And even that was making it difficult for him to fly. He needed the rest of the powers for his weapons' functioning.

The effects of the gravity machine could already be seen as the thick ice caps had already crumbled down for about a twenty-mile radius. The team didn't know what they could do to stop it. they were giving it their all.

00000

Bruce landed on the port. There was no other place the chopper could go in easily. The city was a mess. It was hard to believe that only three people were responsible for it. Exiting the chopper Bruce went for the car that was waiting for him. Even with his old age he insisted on driving himself as he instructed the driver to stay at the port. He took the car downtown where the battle was taking place and where Bruce had lost a lot of his people. He was worried for them but he was also angry at the situation that was currently going on.

Dodging the incoming traffic, the chaos on the streets and the debris everywhere Bruce managed to reach the place where a branch of Wayne Enterprise used to be. Now it was just a burnt down building with apparently no signs of life. He exited his car and slowly walked towards the building when a powerful shock made him fall on his knees. He looked up to see two people fighting with each other in mid-air. They had both tackled each other at the same time which had created the powerful shockwave. How could someone be that strong?

Bruce grunted as his weak joints made his body feel the pain of old age and weakness but he managed to get himself up. He hated this situation and most of all he hated how helpless he felt in a situation like this. He got in his car and typed in a guessed coordinate that he wished was the right one. A moment later he was on a different route, hoping he wouldn't encounter any one of them aliens.

00000

The world all watched in horror the destruction of Metropolis as the two aliens fought making it their battleground. The media erupted with their own version of stories, some claiming that Superman would eventually go to his people, helping them change this planet according to their needs, some claimed the alien he was fighting was his family member. Some claimed that the alien Superman was fighting was the one who had been behind the attack on New York.

Whatever the true story behind it the people knew if not for the Avengers there was no one else who could save them from this threat.

00000

Zod had proven himself to be a formidable enemy. With everything in their way destroyed Clark came to know it not long ago that they were fighting in Metropolis. Looking around he could see the destruction their fight had resulted in. His father was right. Taking a fight with Zod was suicide but it was too late now. Zod needed to be stopped. If not then earth will no longer cease to exist. Kara was injured. He didn't know how she was doing. He had entrusted her life with Tony and the others knowing full well that they didn't know anything about Kryptonian biology. Clark himself had never been sick in his life ever so he had no experience whether or not human medicines would work on him. All he could do was hope that Kara would be alright.

"You're weak, son of El." Zod said as he gracefully floated in mid-air. The buildings and the streets around them had been completely destroyed as they both floated in an empty, large area that now looked like a vacant space full of rubbles. "I thought with all of the codex inside you, you would turn out to be the best of us – the genome of the intelligence, resilience, leadership, strength. But it looks like you still haven't got a hold of what lies inside you. I guess that's good for me considering it will be easy for me to take it out from you now." With that Zod flew towards Clark who prepared for an imminent attack as he charged towards Zod with a cry. They both met mid-air creating a powerful shockwave that could be felt far away. Zod pinned down Clark just as he had to Kara as he prepared to barrage him with his final blows. "You know, your father and I were the best of friends ever since we were children. He was born to lead the Kryptonians into an era of one of the most indigenous races in the entire universe while I was destined to lead the strength of our people. He turned against his people at the last moment, going against what our people have been doing for centuries by being the reason for your natural birth. I could have forgiven him for even that. After all, how predictable could it be that a natural-born of Krypton wouldn't follow in his father's footsteps? And even if the child wanted to be someone else then I would take care of him. After all your father had named me as your primary guardian after himself and your mother."

"You're lying!" Clark said. He couldn't believe his father would make Zod his guardian after them.

"I suppose your father never told you how close he and I were as friends," Zod said. "It was those final moments of Krypton that we both had a difference in our thoughts. He took a coward move by sending you away. He was planning to do it to himself as well but he didn't have the time. He betrayed me when I needed him the most. When the Council had turned against the decision of the people's protection I needed him by my side but he never showed up!" Those words followed with a powerful punch that landed an inch beside Clark's face. It was a powerful punch. Considering the situation he was in Clark knew it wouldn't have been good had that punch landed on him.

When the dust cleared he could see Zod's face. It was hard to miss the single streak of tear on his left cheek as he looked at him with red glowing eyes. They were ready to attack. He was ready to attack.

"I will revenge him by taking out what he held dear the most," Zod said. "And then I will build a new Krypton over the ashes of his son."

Clark barely dodged the powerful lasers coming out of Zod's eyes as he flew away from the tyrant. If Zod hadn't been emotionally disturbed at the moment then Clark was sure he wouldn't be able to escape him.

"The world engine's work will be finished soon," Zod said. "Once this planet's gravity and atmosphere changes it wouldn't matter whether you kill me. Krypton will live once more. Its resurrection will not be stopped."

Clark landed a powerful punch on Zod who took it straight on his chest and was thrown away. Clark followed, another of his punches throwing Zod high up in the air as Clark followed him, landing a punch every time he came near Zod. The sky rattled with the punches as Clark hit him one after the other, throwing him even higher up into the sky.

00000

Bruce watched the battle taking place as he stood on top of the rubble of some building. It was high enough for him to get almost a clear view. Even in this old age his sight was just as young as his resilience. Every time Superman punched Zod the shockwave erupting from it went for miles. Although Bruce wasn't a believer but he thought that if there ever were gods and if they fought, this is how it would look like.

As he looked at them both it appeared as if Zod caught Superman by his cape and threw him towards a set of buildings, taking them completely out. Bruce knew with everything going on the authorities had failed to evacuate the city completely. Many were stuck. Many were dead. And it was all because two aliens had made earth their battleground. His grip tightened on his cane as anger built within Bruce. He hated being helpless to any situation. Knowing full well that he could do nothing in this situation, in the condition he was in Bruce turned around, carefully climbing down the mountain of rubble he was standing on.

The world had change so much since the time he remembered it. There were no mere criminals with simple agendas anymore. Their world now had threats from outside the planet. Bruce wondered since when did the time changed so much.

00000

Helen Cho had been keeping an eye on her patient for about five minutes now and her recovery rate had astonished her. Kara Zor-el, the alien who was currently in her lab had turned out to be related to Superman and not just as a same race individual but a family member. It was a minute ago that Kara had woken up. She could sit now. There were still faint scars on her face and exposed skins that had taken the damage but everything had healed. Kara had thanked her but she was insisting to go and help her cousin.

Cho knew how powerful a threat the Kryptonian race were but she thought maybe Kara was needed somewhere else. She had been in contact with Tony Stark the whole time Kara was rejuvenating under the UV emitter. She knew who needed Kara's help the most.

"Your cousin can hold on a bit longer, Kara," Cho said. "His duty and responsibility is to save this planet. If the planet falls then I don't think any of the Avengers or your cousin will be able to do anything."

"What are you suggesting?" Kara asked.

"Right now the members of Avengers are fighting to stop one of Zod's ships to prevent it from changing the earth's terraformation. They are having difficulty and I think you are needed there more than where your cousin is fighting. Besides, you've just healed. I don't know if you are strong enough to actually handle Zod on your own. He poses more threat to you at your current state than anything else. I request you to please go and help Tony and others. if they fail it won't matter whether or not Zod wins. There won't be an earth to fight for."

Kara thought over what the doctor had said. It made sense. Beside she had been out of commission for quite a while now and as per the news Kal was holding up against Zod all by himself. She was aware of Krypton's technology, especially cruise ships, a category where the world engine fell in as well. If her going there to help the Avengers would help turn the tide of this battle then this is what she would do.

She looked at Helen who returned her look with a grateful nod. Kara got up and blasted out towards where Tony and the rest were struggling to stop the world engine.

Helen looked at the chamber where Bruce was currently in. He had been brought in a critical state. If it wasn't for the Flash it might've been too late for Bruce. With his condition it was a good thing that he was healing well. Maybe all superheroes with super powers had enhanced healing? She thought as she looked at his vitals. Fortunately the bleeding had stopped. It was a good thing because Bruce's blood was poisoned with gamma radiation. He was currently under a heavy dose of sedatives that the SHIELD had especially designed to keep the Hulk under control. Bruce had himself given some inputs over the project once he'd been informed about it. Guess he was the most desperate one to get rid of the Hulk. He couldn't be blamed for that. The world had seen how bad Hulk could be especially if he had a bad day, or rather Bruce had a bad day.

00000

Kara could see the giant ship and the tentacles that it whipped around to stop the Avengers from stopping it. She knew the only way she could enter the ship was from the bottom region from where it was firing off the gravity beam. It would be hard but this was all she had.

Tony and the rest had already seen her. With all four of them, each currently in an Iron Man suit of their own could hope for nothing better. Tony and Steve approached Kara.

"Are you alright?" Steve asked her.

"Better than I was when Zod beat me up," she said. They had all listened to Helen's narration of how quickly Kara was healed under the UV emitter. "There's only one way to enter the ship."

"We figured that out," Tony said. "The thing is we can't even get near it, far less inside it. Those tentacles are a good defense mechanism for the ship."

"I have a plan," Kara said. "I want you all to distract those things."

"And?" Steve asked.

"Leave the rest to me," she said.

"You're fifteen!" Tony said.

"With apparently more experience than anyone right now about Kryptonian technology," she said, folding her hands. "I was a military candidate. I've been inside Kryptonian ship and handled Kryptonian weaponry as part of my training exercise back when I was on Krypton."

"So you know how to stop it?" Tony asked.

"All we have to do is stop this one," Kara said. "The other will then be stopped on its own. They work in sync. Depending on the planet size their working numbers are determined. This planet is so small that only two world engines are enough which makes it a good thing."

"Good, how?" Tony asked.

"Every world engine, when operating, needs to be connected to the other one," she said. "When I was training for being a soldier I studied about them since it is an ancient technology of our world. Each world engine needs to be in sync with another one in order to work. Depending on the planet size they were dispatched in pairs since the gravity beam targets a planet's core to change the gravitational and magnetic properties of the planet. For that to happen two world engines have to work at the same time. Luckily for us this planet is small enough for just one pair so if we destroy this one…"

"The other will stop on its own," Steve said.

"Exactly," Kara said. "So, shall we begin?"

00000

The military had joined in the fight as well. Since a considerably large area of Metropolis had been destroyed the government now didn't care if anymore destruction happened or not. The city was gone already so they had sent in fighter jets with deadly artillery to help Superman stop the threat called Zod. Although not much but they did help Clark by distracting Zod. Out of eleven jets that had been sent to their location four had already been destroyed by Zod which gave Clark enough chance to grab on to Zod from behind. Wasting no time he fired the laser beams from his eyes at Zod's back. The general screamed his lungs out. Both were bleeding like anything. Both were tired. It was a new experience for Zod to feel this much powerful considering he had never felt like that back on Krypton or in the Phantom Zone. He was still struggling a bit over the control of these new powers that he had gained. If given enough time he was sure he would be invincible. He didn't want to accept it but in the long run Kal was more powerful than him and he also had the codex of the people of Krypton inside him. This was the reason why Zod wanted to kill Kal, if not defeat him. Killing him was more important than anything right now. The fate of a new Krypton could be decided later. But Kal had him in a body lock with his lasers firing right at his back. He could not get loose from those tight grips. The laser burnt and it hurt. He was losing his stamina as well and it wasn't because he was getting tired. A hold of these new powers was making him feel weary.

Clark fired a good thirty-second laser beam on Zod's back before turning him around and punching him hard towards the ground. He didn't let go after that as he followed him in a flash, tearing through the cloud of dust that Zod's landing on the ground had made. Zod couldn't even get the chance to stand up as Clark pushed him in the crater, showering a barrage of punches on his entire body. The shaking of the ground itself said the power that Clark had behind those punches. He stopped once Zod was lying unconscious in the crater, his face and body completely bloodied from the punches of Clark. Now he had one last thing to do. He knew killing Zod wouldn't bring him justice even though Clark wanted to do just that but he controlled himself. He reached to his earpiece and pressed it.

"Tony?" he said. There was some weird noise coming from the other side along with a rhythmic panting.

"Yeah?" Tony answered a moment later.

"It's done on my side," Clark said. "I have a plan for Zod. How far are you guys with the world engine?"

"Kara's fighting the gravity beam right now," Tony said.

"What do you mean she's fighting the gravity beam?" Clark asked.

00000

She wondered why she had taken this job but then there was nothing left other than distracting the ship's defense system, so here she was, trying her best to even stand up straighter under the powerful gravity beam. She had learnt how powerful those beams could be. They were after all designed to alter the entire gravity of a planet. It had to be powerful and she was now regretting what she was doing.

She was on her knees and hands, trying her best to not let the beam completely flatten her on the frozen ground. Her ears were rumbling. She was sure she'd be completely deaf if she somehow got out of here.

Tony and the others were trying their best to dodge the tentacles while keeping them away from Kara. The black electrostatic cloud that the ship released from its top was not helping them at all, however. Whenever they came near it the suits started malfunctioning. They didn't know what else they could do when they saw someone coming in their direction.

Clark had reached them, carrying an unconscious and bloodied Zod with him. "Keep an eye on him," he said, giving the unconscious body to Tony as he flew towards the gravity beam.

Kara had decided that she could not do this anymore but she couldn't even get out of here now. The gravity beam was just too strong and her strength hadn't completely returned after she was healed. As all hope seemed lost to her she felt a firm hand on her shoulder. She somehow managed to lift her head up to see who it was and she couldn't be happier.

"Together?" Clark asked, smiling down at her.

"Together," Kara said with a new resilience on her face as she got up with Clark's help. They both held each other's hands and raised the other one upwards, flying slowly but steadily towards the ship. Their skin and muscles rippled under the effect of the beam and it was very hard to fly under it but they gave it their all.

The Avengers watched with surprise and a newfound respect as the two Kryptonians went through the ship with a valiant cry, bringing it down completely. The ship fell into the ice cold water where it exploded with a muffled sound.

Kara and Clark landed slowly on the ground, panting heavily. The other Avengers landed beside them making sure the two were alright. Clark was bleeding profusely with his fight against Zod and the ripples caused by the gravity beam had worsened his wounds even more.

"We need to treat you!" Steve said.

"No," Clark said. "We need to deal with him first," he said, pointing towards Zod.

"What do you have in mind?" Tony asked.

00000

The Avengers took hold of the other world engine that was lying dormant after the other one was destroyed. They used Zod's ship as a singularity factor using the key that Clark gave them. After launching the ship into space, Kara and Clark threw the world engine together towards it where it collided with Zod's ship creating a small black hole which sucked them both in along with Zod who was in his ship when the scenario took place.

00000

The world and especially Metropolis slowly coped up with what had happened. It took some time but they did. Many countries came together to help rebuild the city after the ferocious battle took place. The governments and experts debated all over the world whether or not someone like Superman and other superheroes should be kept under control or not. The world was divided on the said topic so no quick judgment came out. The crime rates became low after seeing how there were bigger threats taking place in their world. People had become more aware about the existence of aliens.

00000

He was lucky that he reached there first. After seeing what the Kryptonians were capable of he knew that the government won't do anything to control them. Even if they came to a decision it would take a long time. He didn't have time. He had discovered something that would probably give the humans a fighting chance against those Kryptonians now that it was obvious that there were two of them living on earth.

He was glad that he had sent his men to obtain one of the fallen bodies of those Kryptonians. It was of a tall man, unidentified but definitely a Kryptonian. Even in death his body had absorbed the sun's radiation and had become strong like anything. It would serve a fine specimen for experimentation as Lex looked out of the window where a freight truck arrived and his people pulled out a carefully packed crate from inside it. The smile on his face was that of pure content while his eyes glowed with fiery revenge and a strong grudge that he now held against those Kryptonians.

00000

The coming days saw people arguing whether or not allowing an alien or aliens to live amongst themselves was an acceptable thing to do. Half of the population argued that it was Superman and the other one who stopped Zod while other half argued that if it wasn't for Superman Zod wouldn't have come on their planet. Both sides had valid points so when the world turned towards the Avengers seeking their opinion on whether or not they considered Superman a part of their team Tony took the charge by saying that Superman was not a member of the Avengers and that he didn't know what others thought about it but if it wasn't for the Superman they'd have been doomed. It wasn't just about a Kryptonian attacking earth and its people because of Superman. Earth had experienced another alien invasion before that Superman had helped prevent.

Tony had argued that Zod had revealed it to them that he had come to their planet to turn it into another Krypton so even if there was no Superman it would've been likely that Zod or someone else could've come one day to take over their planet. Tony had skipped the details, lied a little bit and had kept his mouth completely shut over the fact that there was another Kryptonian – a female. Tony had denied any knowledge of that and had closed the topic from his side and the side of the Avengers.

00000

Tony gifted Clark and his mother with a new house – a gift of gratitude for Clark helping them stop Zod. Clark tried to deny the gift but Tony never listened. He also helped get Kara a new identity. Since her name was just a common name on earth she decided to keep it. She was Kara Kent now, Clark's long distant cousin. She was content with staying in this new world. She knew the leaders of this world were a bit hesitant about letting someone as powerful as Superman amongst them but she understood their fear and somewhat mild hatred towards the Kryptonians. It was the same tendency with the Kryptonians. Both the races feared what they didn't understand.

Clark offered to help Kara control her powers and the newly heightened senses after she learnt how to breath properly. Kryptonians also breathed oxygen but theirs was less dense than earth's so it wasn't fatal breathing in earth's atmosphere but a little difficult so after sometime she managed to breath properly and it only added to her strength and a more vigorous blood-flow as more dense oxygen entered her blood stream.

It was decided that she would not be staying either with Clark or Martha – Clark's mother on earth. It was her decision only as she argued she would be able to learn about this world's culture by staying on her own. No one argued to her about that so Tony bought her a house in Queens. It was a good neighborhood with good people and enrolled her in a public school. What better to do then go to a public school if someone wanted to know about the American culture? She was quite content with her settlement. Clark promised to come visit her every weekend. She didn't see anything bad in that although she did admit that it felt a bit weird with Clark babysitting her and not the other way around.

00000

A few months after the incident almost everyone quiet down. There were still debates, discussions going on about the Kryptonians, targeting Superman as a hostile individual, dangerous for humanity but most of it had died down. People had once again fallen into their normal routine and thanks to the allies of the States and some generous donations from bit organizations like Stark Industries, Wayne Enterprises and Lex Corp. Metropolis stood tall once again. Memorials were held for people who lost their lives on that day. The city was completely re-designed with the memorial place being built in the center of the city.

00000

Bruce sat in his private office looking over the data his satellite had collected over the Kryptonian ship. He had discovered something that could prove very useful in the events of a bad situation involving the Kryptonians. Somehow he couldn't shake off the feeling that there were more Kryptonians out there.

He wondered if he would be able to get his hands on some of the Kryptonian fuel that the ship had for its power. Somehow it was dangerous to the Kryptonians.

"Sir, it's Mr Stark on line 2," her secretary's voice came through the phone. Bruce pressed the button, opening line 2.

"You busy?" Tony said over the phone?"

"How did you know I was in the office?" Bruce asked, wondering how did Tony knew about him being in the office.

"Let me in and I'll tell you," Tony said and hung up the phone.

Bruce switched over to the surveillance to see Tony waiting outside the building which had been shielded completely. Sighing he contacted the security letting Tony in. a minute later he was inside the Bruce's lavish penthouse. Bruce came there five minutes later.

"You never picked your phone," Tony said.

"I was busy," Bruce replied as he sat on his armchair, letting out a grunt.

"Still suffering with the back pain?" Tony asked.

"There's more areas where I am now suffering with pain," Bruce said. "You'll understand once you get old."

"I hope I don't become like you," Tony said.

"Is there something you wanted to talk to me about?" Bruce asked.

Tony's face became serious at once as he looked at Bruce with a serious grim on his face. "It's about that day when Zod and Superman fought…"

"If you want to ask about John then I'll tell you about it," Bruce said, interrupting him.

"You know why I'm here?" Tony asked.

"John informed me that he had told you that I knew about John and who he really is," Bruce said.

"Then why didn't you tell anyone who John actually is?" Tony asked.

"John's been a good friend of mine for a long time now," Bruce said. "He was stuck on this planet and had a tragic accident. He made a friend in a doctor – a scientist to be precise. The scientist died in an accident and so he came to me because I knew that scientist and he had introduced me to John. We've known each other since then and as to not telling anyone about it would only be making things more difficult for John."

"I bet it was weird for you to meet an alien," Tony said.

"This is Gotham, Tony," Bruce said. "People here have seen more crazy things than a green alien or a flying man with an S on his chest."

"I don't know much about Gotham apart from the fact that this city used to be a hellhole, quite popular around the world because of it. Now things have changed."

"They sure have," Bruce said, looking at his glass of vine. "So, who's the girl Kryptonian?" he asked. Tony didn't reply. "You can trust me," Bruce said.

"She's his cousin, Superman's I mean," Tony said. "And by that I mean actual cousin. Their fathers were brothers. Both had planned to send them away to another world as their planet was about to blow. Her ship got caught in the explosion's shockwave and she ended up somewhere else and Superman landed on earth. He's been here since he was a toddler so he's about as human as anyone else is. Those who say that he should be removed from this planet, for which I don't even know that there is any law about, don't know his past."

"But they can never be too careful," Bruce said. "You know this just as well as anyone else how ridiculously powerful he is. If he ever tries to turn up against humanity we wouldn't be able to protect ourselves from his wrath."

"He wouldn't turn against us," Tony said.

"Never leave out possibilities," Bruce said. "We've already seen two alien invasions on our world. What's to say there exists a way that would make Superman turn against humanity? You can never be too careful."

Tony didn't reply to that as he sipped on his vine.

"Has she been given a new identity? The girl?" Bruce asked.

"All prepped up to lead a new human life," Tony said. "Why do you ask?"

"She's new to this world. She can have a bad experience," Bruce said. "Just be sure she doesn't hurt someone rather badly."

Tony assured Bruce that it won't happen. He had already asked Clark about that considering they had all seen how angry Kara could be from time to time.

 **00000**

 **Thanks for reading…..**


	10. Chapter 10

The new shipment had arrived. He had begun the secret experiments. The results sure made him happy. Now all he needed to do was to figure out how to remove the limited amount of it that was in his hands.

00000

This place was different. She had admitted that. It was also kind of weird seeing him all grown up and even being older than her but this was her life now, and his. She had not gotten a better chance until now to sit and talk to her cousin. She couldn't believe the mischievous toddler had grown up to be a mature person. He was like a parent to some child. Well, he acted like that and in this world, according to its laws he was now her legal guardian. While that sucked in its own way she wouldn't complain about it.

Mrs. Kent was a nice lady. She was pretty shaken due to the entire 'Zod' thing but in the end her family was all safe and sound. She was happy like anything when she came to know that Kal had a family member alive and well. It took some time to make her understand how Kara was older than Kal but because of all Phantom Zone thing it was the otherwise but she took it all well and patiently. Guess her son being safe was the only thing that was enough for her.

It had been a month after the whole Zod incident. There were still news media going on about the whole alien fiasco, debates taking rounds, the world governments presenting their worries. Amongst all that Tony presented Kara with a new identity. She was Kara Kent, family history included her parents dying in a car crash so her nearest living relative – Kal – took her guardianship until she would become of age. She was also enrolled in a public school in Queens where Tony presented her with a rather decent house. Kal wasn't much enthusiastic about it but Tony had not listened.

It was the day of moving. Tony had decidedly not shown up. It was a right thing to do. If word went out that Kara knew Tony by any chance then people would join the dots and figure something else out. It was also decided by the 'adults' that she would also not be taking part in anything hero-like or dangerous unless she was asked for. Her current and only mission until otherwise was to blend in with this human race by living their lives. So moving in to this nice and calm neighborhood was the first step for her to take.

00000

They had a new neighbor. Word was that it was just a teenager who was living there on her own. People started talking when they came to know she had a cousin, her guardian who was a resident of Metropolis. That is what Clark would say to anyone who asked him where he lived although he would fly back to his home every night after work. Especially after Zod's incident.

It had been a day after she had moved in. Kal had decided to stay overnight to help her unpack. He would be leaving in the evening today. Kara was okay with it. She had no intention of unpacking things on her own. As they arranged whatever things Kara was bought a knock on the door gained their attention.

"Who could that be?" Kara asked.

"Neighbors, maybe," Kal said with a smile as he got up and walked towards the door and opened it. In front of him stood a middle-aged lady. She had a plate covered with a white cloth with rather impressive embroidery.

"Hello, my name is May," the lady said. "May Parker. I just live across the street right there," she said, pointing to her house. "I see you've just moved in so I thought maybe I'd go say hi," she said, bringing forward the covered plate towards Clark who took it graciously. "Those are the cookies I baked this morning. They're quite famous in this neighborhood."

"Thank you," Clark said. "Would you like to come in?"

"Thanks, but no thanks," May said. "I have a nephew to watch over. He's in his teen years. You know how rash they can be sometimes."

"Is anything the problem?" Clark asked.

"Oh, no. No problems," May said. "It's just that he's not sleeping well for quite sometimes now. I'm just worried about him, that's all. Well, I won't take any more of your time. I'm sure you've got lots of work to do."

"Hold on a sec," Clark said. "Kara, come say hi to your neighbor," he said a bit loudly. A moment later Kara came downstairs. "This is Kara, my cousin. Kara, this is Mrs. Parker…"

"Ms Parker," May corrected him.

Clark looked at her for a moment before nodding slowly. "This is Ms Parker. She lives right in front of your house on the other side."

"It's nice to meet you, Ms Parker," Kara said giving her a hug. She had already been taught the basic mannerism that the human race practiced so she wouldn't gain any unwanted attention.

"It isn't much to ask but would you guys like to come to dinner at my house?" May asked. "It's just that you guys moved in just now so I thought maybe I'll cook you guys dinner tonight, leave you the effort to do so."

"It would be much appreciated," Clark said. "Thank you, Ms Parker."

"Always a pleasure," she said. "You should meet my nephew. I suppose you both will get along great."

The two watched as she walked away. Kara closed the door, giving her cousin a look. "What?" he asked.

"Accepting dinner invitation now, are we, Kal?" Kara said.

"Alright, first of all, stop calling me Kal," Clark said. "This is earth and I have a human name here. Second thing – she seems nice. And it is always a good thing to know our neighbors. Hopefully you'll like her nephew, too." He smiled cheekily as he dodged a not-so-playful shoulder punch from her.

"You do know that I am the older one here, right?" she said as they moved upstairs to unpack the rest of the items.

"Inside the walls," Clark said. "But I've been on this planet for almost the rest of my life so experience-wise I get to be your older cousin. So you've got to listen to me, too."

"Fine," Kara mumbled.

00000

Barry almost stumbled and fell off his chair when he heard a voice inside his head.

"You alright, babe?" Iris asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Barry lied as he took out his phone to make a gesture. "It's just a call from the captain."

"At this hour?" she asked.

"It's this case I've been working on," Barry said. "It's taking too long with everything that's going on, you know, the team Flash stuff. I need to have this or else he wouldn't let me live tomorrow." Saying that Barry took his leave. He looked around and found him standing under a tree in the darkness of a broken street light. "You startled me, man," Barry said. "What do you want?"

"Just checking on you," John said.

"Checking on me?" Barry asked. "What, you're babysitting me now?"

"I wanted to know how you're doing since that day," John said.

"It's been more than a month since that day and you're coming now?" Barry asked.

"Human mind is a complicated thing when it comes to forgetting things," John said. "I've seen people worry over things that's been years in the past. They tend to come back and haunt them."

"Nothing I saw that day would haunt me," Barry said.

"Really? All those dead people?" John asked. "If that doesn't make you feel bad and nauseated at all then you are not human. I've been on this planet for quite some time now and I've seen the people you and your team challenge and defeat. What happened that day in Metropolis was nothing like that. Tell me, how many of your enemies have killed people at that level?"

Barry didn't answer. He just shifted his look away from John.

"I'm not here to lecture you over anything," John said. "I just want you to know that if anything like that ever happens again on this planet then I would be happy if someone like you was there to help out the people."

"Why me?" Barry asked. "Go ask the Arrow, Superman or the Avengers. They are more resourceful than me and much more experienced, not to mention."

"They will gather, although not the Arrow. Not so soon, I guess," John said. "You have a great and capable team backing you up and most of all you are a really strong individual, too. From whatever data I could gather on you, Barry, I know you are one of the strongest superhero on this planet."

"I don't want to join a different team or league if that's what you're here for," Barry said. "I'll be happy to help them but I will not be one of them. I have my own enemies, enemies that I am currently fighting."

"And I don't blame you but I ask this of you," John said, "When the world is in danger, will you help save it?"

Barry nodded after thinking for a moment.

"That's good enough for me," John said.

"Why are you asking me all of this?" Barry asked.

"Just to make sure that when the next hit comes, whenever that will be, we will be ready with a force of our own," John said before flying away in the darkness of the night.

Barry looked at the star-less sky where John had vanished before he went inside his house.

.

"How did it go?" he asked.

"He agreed to help," John said.

"I guess that's a good thing," he said. "He doesn't know it yet but he's one of the very few on this planet that holds the power to change the entire tide of a battle, even a war."

"How long till it happens?" John asked.

"He still hasn't made any move but I'm keeping tabs on him," he said. "'Tabs' - such an earthly thing to say. Although I like it."

"Hurry with your plans, Loki," John said. "I know what you seek to achieve is very important for the survival of this universe. What I don't know is why you chose this world out of the others in the entire universe."

"I have my reasons," Loki said with a smile before vanishing away.

John stood there, in mid-air, watching the city lights turn off as the night enveloped it and people went to sleep. With everything he had he had wished it was all false but it wasn't. "Hurry up, Loki," John said before flying away.

00000

The knock on the door was followed by a boy opening it. Peter was already told that they'd be having guest for dinner. Maybe these two were tonight's guests. A rather tall and muscular man and a girl about his age. Peter had to admit that she was beautiful. The man standing beside her was rather muscular. Peter could tell that even though this guy was wearing a plain formal shirt. It looked as if he was coming from work now.

"Hello," Clark said, bringing forward his hand. "My name is Clark. This is my cousin Kara. We were invited for dinner."

"Oh, yes, please come in," Peter said, opening the door the entire way and gesturing them to come inside.

As they entered the house May came into the corridor. "Oh, great, you guys are here," she said happily. "Dinner's almost ready."

"I will help you," Kara said.

"You don't have to, dear," May said.

"Please, Ms May. I insist," she said. May nodded before taking her towards the kitchen. Clark and Peter stood there watching them go and vanish inside the kitchen before turning to look at each other awkwardly.

"Um, come sit down," Peter said, guiding Clark towards the drawing room. A minute later both were sitting there in awkward silence when Clark decided to break it.

"So, uh, Midtown High, huh?" Clark said, breaking the silence.

"Yeah," Peter said. "I heard from May that your cousin might be going there, too."

"She is," Clark said. "Thankfully she moved here in time. She wouldn't have to start late, right?"

"No, no," Peter said. "The new term started about a month ago. She is not late or behind. Well, not much, I mean."

Clark nodded and sat there, letting the awkward silence fill in again. This time Peter decided to break it. "So, where do you work?" he asked.

"Oh, I work at the Planet, the paper," Clark asked.

"Oh," Peter said. "Does anyone read newspapers in today's time?" he asked with a chuckle.

"No," Clark replied with a smile of his own. "Not according to our chief editor," he said.

"So, May also told me that your cousin might be living here all by herself," Peter asked. "Why so?"

"Um, she needs a little time, that's all," Clark said. "You know, with her losing her parents and everything else going on with her life. She asked if she could live on her own."

"And you agreed to that?" Peter asked. "Not that I have any place to say anything but I was just curious."

"Well, to be honest, she sometimes behaves more grown up then me," Clark said. "Besides, Metropolis isn't that far away. I will be seeing her on a weekly basis."

"You are a resident of Metropolis?" Peter asked.

"Yeah, why?" Clark asked.

"Nothing," Peter said. "It's just that the whole city was destroyed when Superman and those aliens battled there."

"So you know about that," Clark said.

"The whole world knows about that," Peter said. "Not like in vivid detail but who hasn't heard about it? I mean ALIENS! I mean sure there were people and scientist who claimed that aliens did exist but now no one can deny that fact!"

"That I can agree upon," Clark said.

"Clark, Peter, the table's set," Kara said entering the drawing room.

"Shall we?" Clark asked. Peter nodded as they got up and went into the kitchen.

00000

"He sure has gotten cocky over the years, eh?" the man holding a hammer said.

"He sure has," his partner said. "Honestly speaking, I don't understand why would someone dress so stupidly and risk their life for no reason."

"Boss says he is the successor," the first guy said.

"Of who?" his partner said.

"You know who."

"The batman?" his partner said. "He isn't real…wasn't real."

"Well, boss says that he is real and he thinks that he is still alive," the guy said.

"But the rumor says that he sacrificed himself with the nuke that Bane had planted inside the city."

"Whatever it was, boss was interested in him," the first guy said, kicking the vigilante who lied unconscious on the cold street. "Jesus, we were on to him for more than a month now. Now I know why he isn't as good as him. I guess this is why boss wanted him out of the way."

"So when is it going to happen?" his partner asked.

"Boss said he is in contact with someone who will be providing him with something very important. Once it arrives the operation will begin."

"Just like the plan?" his partner asked.

The guy smiled as he looked down at an unconscious Blake. "Just like the plan."

00000

The dinner was mostly a silent event. No one spoke much mostly because they didn't know each other much. May only talked a bit about Peter and about losing her husband a few years back. Clark was the one mostly speaking for Kara probably because she could blurt out something that could cause certain suspicion.

"I don't understand this entire superhero thing," May said. "I never knew there were people like them amongst us. Can you imagine flying in the sky, having the power to destroy an entire city with a single punch…" Clark chocked on that line. Kara passed him the glass of water. "…then aliens come to our world and even then the government is denying that we are all still in danger."

"Well, the Avengers did save us," Clark said.

"But at what cost?" May said. "Look at the destruction! Count the dead! Then those other aliens come to our world who did more damage. I don't believe in saving others if that saving has casualties…the kind of casualties that we saw during the attack on New York and Metropolis."

Kara looked towards Clark who was looking down on his half empty plate. He had his lips pressed together. "Maybe it is true but if it wasn't for those heroes then I guess you can only imagine the overall destruction and loss of life."

"It is true, genuinely true," May said. "But one thing also bothers me and it is that before these heroes came we never had threats like those two. If there is a connection that can explain that these heroes are the ones attracting these dangers then I suppose these heroes shouldn't operate."

"Our world was opened to aliens a few months ago, aunt May," Peter said. "I don't think these dangers will stop even if the heroes stop helping us. We've had two alien attacks in less than a period of five months and who can say there won't be another in the near future? What if the attack was inevitable – the attack on New York, the attack on Metropolis?"

"It's the fault of those governments, I bet you," May said. "They have hardly let any news come to public about it. I may not know much about it but my friend Margaret showed me this video that his son's friend had sent him where a beam was fired from the top of Stark tower that opened that giant hole through which the aliens came. If aliens haven't already been living with us since forever, I would say it was a human or some government people or who knows, maybe an avenger who was responsible for opening that hole in the sky. And now we have another gimmick, probably in our own city."

"A gimmick?" Clark asked as he took a sip of water.

"Yeah, Margaret showed me his video on YouTube. He had worn a ridiculous red and blue outfit and was swinging from light poles on the street."

Clark immediately stole a glance towards Peter whose heart rate had suddenly gone up. Clark wondered what had spooked the boy. Peter looked at Clark with a confused expression but then shifted his gaze.

"I suppose we have a new superhero in town," Kara said as she showed everyone the video on YouTube. "Guy's sure got skills – stopping an entire family van with bare hands requires one to be above human."

"Yup, that's him," May said.

"Well, maybe he's trying to help," Peter said.

"Oh, for god's sake. We've enough superheroes to help humanity. We all know how good a job they're all doing," May said. "Besides, look at him," she said, pointing towards the phone screen. "The guy looks like you, Peter."

"Maybe he's an alien, like Superman," Peter said. "You know, those people who came for Superman said that he was one of their people who had been living in our world ever since he was a child. Maybe we've got more aliens amongst us. We just don't know who they are or where they are."

"You are a reporter, right, Clark?" May asked, looking at him. "You people have sources to these kinds of news."

"With all due respect, Ms Parker, nobody reads newspaper today," Clark said with a sad smile.

"Haven't you guys developed an app to tackle that problem?" Peter asked. "I mean every news media has an app today to reach more people and I don't think all those media companies publish papers anymore, not in the quantities that they used to."

"Yeah, tell that to our boss," Clark said. "Which I don't even know who is."

"Well, the Daily Planet is actually owned by Bruce Wayne," Peter said. "But not many people see him nowadays."

"Well, if Bruce Wayne really is the Planet's owner then I don't know when he will realize that we need some upgrade. I agree with you that he doesn't come out into the public anymore. Even in the world of media people don't know very much about him."

"Well, great conversation going on guys, especially at dinner table," Kara said.

The others stopped talking and looked at each other weirdly. May broke the silence. "So, Peter, why don't you join Kara on the first day of her school? She'd be the new kid there so I think it will be great if you could be there to help her."

"It's really not that necessary…" Kara said.

"Yeah," Peter said.

"That's a great idea," Clark said who then received a nudge on her knee under the table. he looked at Kara who was giving him her look of anger.

"Really, Ms Parker, I don't think that would be necessary," Kara said.

"Oh, nonsense," May shrugged her hand. "I know all about how rude children can be towards a new student. Especially if they are alone on their first day. Going to school with Peter would do you some good, although he himself doesn't have many friends but at least he isn't alone. You better inform Ned about a new comer, Peter."

Peter looked at his aunt and then towards Kara who was shaking her head in 'No'. "Alright," Peter said before mouthing a sorry towards Kara. Clark saw this and smiled before finishing his food.

"Well, thank you for the dinner invite," Clark said. "It was delicious."

"Thanks," Kara said as well.

"It's no big deal," May said. "Feel free to come whenever you want. I would be happy to host diner time for you."

"That is very generous of you, Ms Parker," Clark said. "Well, it was nice meeting you, too, Peter," Clark said, giving a firm handshake to the teenager. "Have a good night."

"Good night, Mr Kent," Peter said and then looked towards Kara. "Good night, Kara."

"Good night," Kara said with a forced smile before the two left.

The two walked in silence as they crossed the street. "So, how did you like Peter?" Clark asked.

"Don't even start, Kal," Kara said.

"What? I think he's nice," Clark said. "And please, don't call me Kal unless we are inside the house."

"I can't believe you and May was trying to set myself and Peter up," Kara huffed.

"We weren't trying to set you guys up," Clark said. "Alright, maybe a little. I don't know to what level May was trying to set you and Peter up but all I want is for you to have some friend of your age."

"I am older than you, you now that," Kara said.

"Well, in this world, that doesn't matter anymore," Clark said as he opened the door. "besides, I've been in this world far longer than you have and I have far more experience than you so will you please let me take the lead here?"

"Fine," Kara grumbled. "But don't blame me when I come over to you being an overprotective cousin. You are the only one in this world who's family to me."

"And what about my mom? My earth mom?" Clark asked.

"You know damn well it is not like that," Kara said.

Clark smiled. "Alright," he said. "Off to bed. I have to take an early start tomorrow morning. Perry can be a pain in the butt. Should I wake you up?"

"Don't bother," Kara said. "I have school starting the day after tomorrow. I want to enjoy every bit of the last day I suppose I can have in peace."

Clark laughed lightly at that before he went to sleep in the bedroom on the ground floor while Kara went upstairs in her room. Entering, she threw herself on the comfortable bed without even changing her clothes. Sleep soon took over her because of the day's tiredness as the cold wind blew into her room from the open window.

00000

Bruce was worried. Blake had not been in contact for the past week. He hadn't even been in the orphanage running things. Since he was the one running the Wayne Orphanage the police was also trying to find him. People who worked at the Wayne Home for Boys had complained him missing over a week ago. Since he didn't talk to Bruce after their not-so-good meeting the last time Bruce came to learn about Blake's missing from the police itself when they came to question him regarding Blake's whereabouts.

It was this reason that had Bruce going through Blake's files in his office at the former Wayne Manor. Since it was still Bruce's property as he had bought it back with his accumulated wealth after Bane's anarchism was ended Bruce had allowed it to be the orphanage as it seemed complete nonsense for him living alone in that huge manor.

Nothing he could find seemed to be helpful. His mind also had a scenario where Blake would've been captured by the enemy but no matter how arrogant he had become in the coming years Blake was never the one who didn't watch his back. He would've known if there was someone standing behind him planning an attack. So what had happened to him? Without Blake the city was in need of a vigilante. Since the day he had been missing the crime rate had already gone up. He needed to find Blake. His instincts told him nothing good would come out of this if Blake wasn't found.

Collecting his coat he exited Blake's office and the former Wayne manor as entered his car. As he was about to start the car another car stopped in front of his. He recognized that car. He also recognized the person who stepped out of it. He wondered what would cause Tony Stark to come meet him all the way to the Wayne Orphanage.

"Can we talk?" Tony yelled from outside his car so Bruce could hear him. Bruce rolled down his window and looked at his friend wondering what the guy wanted to talk about. As always Tony looked tired. Bruce knew he had been working on some secret project that he wouldn't tell anyone anything about.

"Let's go to my penthouse," Bruce said as he rolled up his window and drove off. Tony sighed, gestured his car that automatically came up to him as he sat inside and followed his old friend.

The drive was long as the Wayne Manor was near the city limits while Bruce's penthouse was at the top of Wayne Tower, the central attraction of Gotham City. The drive was about an hour long as the two reached the tower. Bruce parked his car in the lift that would take it to his penthouse garage. The two took the elevator to the top floor. No one talked.

Entering his penthouse Bruce asked tony to take a seat as he brought two glass and a bottle of wine.

"Little early for that, don't you think?" Tony said, pointing at the wine bottle.

"I'm currently out of everything else," Bruce said as he settled down in his armchair, placing the bottle and the glasses on the coffee table. "I live alone, you know. Plus I am old so I don't have many things lying around. What brings you here?"

Tony took a sip from his glass before placing it on the table and taking a breath. "I met a friend of yours," he said.

Bruce looked at Tony, signaling him to finish the sentence.

"I met him when the aliens were attacking Metropolis," Tony said. "He said that he was a martian. But that didn't bother me as much as what he said next.

"That he knows me," Bruce said.

Tony looked at him; his lips pressed tightly, eagerly waiting for the old man to answer.

"His name is John Jonzz," Bruce said. "He told me that he had told about his existence to you and that I am a familiar of his."

"Why wouldn't you tell anyone that you know an alien?" Tony asked.

"I guess that's not that obvious for even you to understand?" Bruce said. "You know how when I was young, in my mid-twenties that I went around the world with a dream of seeing the beauty of it? how it worked? It was on one of those days that I met him. I had gone to the North Pole, as you know that Wayne Enterprises has a research facility there. Being as naïve as I was I ignored the strict instructions of staying indoors after four in the evening and went out of my facility all alone. I hadn't walked that long when I heard someone shout. It was a shout of pain. Curious, I ran towards the source of sound. It was one of the scientists from the facility. He had a broken leg and he was stuck in the cold frozen lake. With how cold the temperature was it didn't matter how much I hurried I could not save him. Then I heard a voice behind my back but when I turned I didn't see anyone. Only then I realized that the voice was inside my head. I looked around and on the other side of the lake was a man standing. I recognized the man from the research facility. I had talked to him for a little while. Before I could think of anything he simply flew towards the stuck scientist and pulled him out. It was too late, however, as he was already gone. John seemed a bit too upset about it because it was his best friend who had died. I had so many questions in my head that I wanted to ask the guy regarding what I had seen him do but I held my own.

"Over the years I kept his secret as he kept mine. We came to a mutual understanding that he would help me train my mind so that even he wouldn't be able to hear or listen my thoughts without my consent. I had my own secrets to hide, secrets which I told him later on and he respected them and never spoke about them."

"So he is your friend after all," Tony said. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"There are a lot of things that you don't know about me, Tony and I intend to keep it that way," Bruce said. "You should do the same. If some things concern you I suppose you not share them with me, especially if those things can get you in trouble – like telling me things about SHIELD."

Tony didn't say anything on that. He took a sip before putting the glass down. "I never understood why you were so secretive," he said. "After your parents died you changed completely. I know that because you did. To the outside world you were a spoilt brat, even probably today but I knew how grief-stricken you were."

"If I changed after the death of my parents then I suppose that in itself is reason enough for the change of my behavior?" Bruce said. "I don't feel obliged to you for explaining how I maintained my relationship with an alien, far less telling others about it. If you can't seem to deal with it then that's your problem. I am sorry, Tony, but if you are looking for an explanation then I cannot help you."

Tony didn't say anything. He just stood up and left the penthouse. Ten minutes later Bruce could see a sports car speeding out of the city from his window. Taking the last sip from his glass Bruce closed the blinds before he entered into his office room. Pulling out a drawer he took out his personal cellphone. It was encrypted and worked on a sole network that Bruce had Fox made years ago. He sighed in mild annoyance to see four missed calls on the screen. Unlocking the device he called back and the line was picked up even before the first ring could finish. "How did you get this network access?" Bruce asked.

'Do I really need to give you an explanation?" the person from the other side said in an entertaining tone. "No matter how savvy you are in these regards you are still not Fox so explaining you will be the waste of your and my time."

"What do you want?" Bruce asked.

"I noticed Nightwing was missing," the person said.

"This doesn't concern you, Barbra," Bruce said.

"Shhh! What did I tell you about using real names on a wireless network?" Barbra cautioned. "If I can hack it then anyone serious can as well. Call me by my codename."

"Fine, Overwatch," Bruce said. "Why did you call?"

"I thought I told you," Barbra said. "I noticed Nightwing is missing. I tried tracking his c=communication device but I could not. Also, there is something going on inside the asylum."

"What?" Bruce asked.

"Recently a shipment came to the asylum from an anonymous sender," Barbra said. "I tried looking into it but the satellite couldn't zoom in properly. Neither did the security cameras could catch anything."

"Because they were turned down," Bruce said.

"Exactly," Barbra agreed. "But here's the thing – as you know that I dig very deep because I am a detail oriented girl…"

"To the point, Overwatch," Bruce grumbled.

"Fine," Barbra said. "While I was trying to figure out who the transporter belonged to or if there was anything written on the package I noticed something. The radiation level indicator of the satellite spiked up for a moment before it died down."

"Satellites often record things by mistake," Bruce said. "This is why they are required to be set up every given period of time from their manufacturer."

"You are not getting it," Barbra hissed. "It happened when they took out the package from the container of the transporter. I am telling you that something fishy is going on inside the asylum and with Blake missing I think this is all related."

Bruce thought over what Barbra had said. He had tried contacting Blake by every means necessary but he had failed. Plus, this thing going on inside the Arkham Asylum was stirring up something else for Bruce and he hated not knowing things to the full extent, especially if it was happening within the boundaries of Gotham. "What else can you find out about whatever it is that is going on inside the asylum?" he asked.

"I can't promise anything because I don't have the aster control of the servers inside the asylum. Neither do I have the master controls of the surveillance systems. I can only hack them whenever they are on and every day they are all turned off from evening five to around two in the morning. I don't know what happens in that time period so I am helpless there. Something doesn't feel right to me, Bruce," she said. "And I hate being helpless."

"You are not helpless," Bruce said. "I don't want you involved in any of this because I don't want Gordon to worry about you. You know how important you are to him, right?" There was no answer but Bruce knew Barbra agreed to what he had just said. "Besides, if Blake is missing then the police will find him. They are doing their best. As for the asylum, I'll see what I can come up with. You stay out of this. Do you understand?" There was no reply. "I said 'Do you understand?'"

"Yes," she replied timidly.

"Good. Don't call me again," Bruce said but was stopped as he was about to cut his call.

"What will you do?" she asked.

"What?" Bruce asked.

"I said what will you do if you lose him, too?"

Bruce didn't reply. He cut the call before letting it fall on the ground where he stepped on it, crumbling it into pieces.

00000

The boy ran through the empty streets of the city. He needed to find someone. Anyone. He had just found out something that he probably shouldn't have. He cursed his habit of sneaking around. He was glad no one had seen him or else he was surely dead. He desperately looked around, hoping to find even a single person if not a cop. He was wet and dirty. The waters were on tight watch by the bad people so he had to take the way of the sewers.

"Come on, come on," he said as he looked everywhere.

"Hey! Little guy!"

The boy stopped and turned around. He faltered a smile as he saw a uniformed man coming towards him. He praised his luck. "Officer!" he said with a ragged breath. "I need to tell you something."

The cop came near him, looked at him from top to bottom then placed a hand on his head. "What happened, kid?" he asked.

"Officer, you have to hurry!" the boy said. "The city is in danger!"

"What are you talking about?" the cop said.

"They are coming to attack!" the boy said. They said they will take back what is theirs and that this city will burn."

The cop looked at the boy for a moment before slowly moving is hand from the boy's head to his shoulder. "What is your name, son?" the cop asked.

"Ja…Jason Todd," the boy said.

"You don't look from around here," the cop said.

"I am not," the boy said. "I came from the Narrows. "They are also coming from the Narrows, from the asylum. They have an army and they are also going to release every criminal from this side, too…"the boy stopped before finishing his sentence as he looked at the sadistic expression on the face of the cop who was looking down at him with a creepy smile. "You…You're one of them…"

The boy didn't get to finish his sentence as a powerful knee hit him hard under his abdomen, making him curl down and fall on the ground. He couldn't even cry in pain as only ragged breath came out of his mouth as his body writhed in pain. The cop took out his radio and changed the channel. "I have an eye witness here – a boy of around eleven or twelve," he said over the radio.

"We don't need him," a voice said from the other side of the radio.

"What should I do with him?" the cop asked.

"Let him live," the voice said. "I want him to be the first one to see how we take back this city."

The cop turned off the radio and kicked the boy hard one last time before spitting on him and then walking towards the darkness of one of the alleys. The boy laid there, trying to breath as his vision blurred. He needed to warn them about the threat. The bad people were coming and the citizens of Gotham had no idea about the danger.

00000

Barbra took a yawn. Her eyes were red from the lack of sleep. Being a librarian sometimes landed her with the amount of work that even surprised her. Being a single person the pay wasn't bad and she easily survived on that with some savings but sometimes the workload wanted to make her quit. She stood up from her chair and looked at the clock. It was four in the morning. Her father was fast asleep and wouldn't wake up for another two hours. He was an early riser even with his age. His old military habits hadn't worn off as Barbra thought about it while going to the kitchen for a glass of water. Coming back she had no intention of going back to sleep. She would do that in the afternoon considering toway was a holiday.

She sat back on her chair, opening a new window on her screen and typing something to pass her time when a patrol car passed by down the street. Looking at it she thought back on her conversation with Bruce. It had been a few days since then. Blake had still not been found. Even her father had been contacted by the current commissioner regarding any whereabouts or city landscapes where Blake could be considering James Gordon knew every nook and cranny of Gotham City. Her father didn't know and he looked worried. She didn't know whether or not her father knew the real identity of Blake as the vigilante that people had named Nightwing but she definitely knew that Blake and her father had worked once together when the city had been taken under siege by Bane.

Looking at the empty screen she wondered what she could do when something came in her head. Opening the drawer of her computer table she took out the police radio that she had made herself. It didn't look like a radio because it was electronics components on a breadboard. She took out a small speaker from another drawer and attached it to the circuitry of the radio before connecting the whole circuit to her computer using a USB. She then opened a software that she had made for radio frequency tracking and once the red light on the circuit board blinked she knew she was connected the GCPD radio network. She knew she wouldn't find anything interesting considering the hour on the clock but she was bored and she had nothing to do. She let the software find any active frequency. Overhearing police conversation could be fun sometimes. She had a rather good experience in that field.

"I have an eye witness here – a boy of around eleven or twelve," suddenly came a voice on the speaker. The software had stopped on the frequency as that was the only one that seemed to be active. Barbra noticed that it wasn't the frequency that the cops used generally.

"We don't need him," another voice said. It sounded as if someone was talking with a changed voice as it sounded animatedly rough.

"What should I do with him?" the first guy asked.

"Let him live. I want him to be the first one to see how we take back this city."

The line was disconnected then. Barbra kept staring at the screen. Quickly tapping some buttons she opened up her self-made tracker and putting the frequency value had the software do its work. A minute later she was shown the last active sight where the frequency was sent and received from. It was two blocks away from the bridge that connected Gotham from the Narrows. Opening a new window she tapped in some codes that opened the surveillance system of the whole city. Quickly putting in the street code she waited as she was shown every single camera working in the said street. She gasped when she found a boy lying unconscious on the ground. Opening a secure network she called in the emergency number as her mind raced regarding the things she had experienced and seen in the last minute or two.

Her fingers were tapping the table like anything. It happened whenever she got nervous or anxious. She needed to tell someone about this but whom? Bruce had definitely cut her off and Blake was missing…'Is Blake going missing related to what she heard on the radio?' she thought. She clicked some buttons on her keyboard and her surveillance screen changed to the one inside Arkham. None were working. Shifting to the outside cameras and the ones on the streets she found the main door opened. There was no movement inside the campus of the asylum and the streets were empty. Although she did notice a fire quite far away. Something was happening and she didn't like the way it appeared.

 **00000**

 **Thanks for reading…**


	11. Chapter 11

The sirens that echoed in the distant were proof enough that the city was in chaos. News channels were blasting with incidents that had occurred in Gotham city out of nowhere when a series of bomb blasts shook the city and its people to the core.

00000

Barbra tried contacting Bruce to inform him about the recent information that she had found out but he wasn't picking up his phone. She could not try on his private number because he had shut her out. While trying to contact him she looked out to make sure that the boy who was safely reached to a hospital. The EMT was quick to come and receive him to take Jason to a nearby hospital.

She looked at the clock. It said four in the morning. Her dad slept with the key and he was a light sleeper so getting out of the house was not an option at the moment. She knew calling the police won't solve the problem because the voice recognition that she ran of the man she had recorded on the frequency had actually turned out to be a legit cop so she couldn't take a risk not knowing which cop to trust so she was out of options. All she could do was wait for the sun to rise so that she could go to Bruce's place and tell him what she'd heard over the radio.

00000

Bruce looked at the horizon as the morning sun outlined it with its golden color as his chopper landed on the helipad. Lex was there to welcome him as he got off his private chopper.

"Looks like you don't mind missing your sleep," Lex said as he shook hands with Bruce.

"It's become a habit of sort," Bruce replied as he shook Lex's hand. He then looked around, taking the view of Metropolis from high up Lex Corp building – one of the tallest buildings of Metropolis. "Looks like the city is standing back up just fine," he said.

"But you can never shake off the shock that put it on the ground," Lex said in a serious voice. "Anyways, thanks for sending your relief foundation here. We could use all the help we needed."

"Just doing my job," Bruce said as the two climbed down the stairs and headed for the elevator.

"I know I don't have to tell you this but you'd need to keep all electronic items outside as we enter my private floor," Lex said.

"I know," Bruce said as he took out his phone to check the messages that he had gotten over the night. There were none except multiple missed calls from Barbra. He wondered what she wanted to tell him but she had been a bit too indulging towards him. He turned his phone off as they reached Lex's private floor in the building which was just beneath his penthouse floor. He conducted his most secret and confidential meetings with his selected board members here so there wasn't much to see here as the corridors were mostly empty and there wasn't much furniture. There was a conference room with a meeting table and some chairs inside it but nothing else. Bruce had been here before but quite a long time ago. Things had definitely changed in here. He knew that the inner walls of this floor were lined with a Faraday Cage. He had always wondered why and had even asked Lex once but the man had simply replied to protect business strategies. Bruce had never Trusted Lex in his entire life but he was a great businessman and knew what strategies to make. He definitely worked on something important here from time to time to prevent from being spied on. But who would spy on him? Why was he being so paranoid?

As they reached Lex's office Bruce passed a close room with thick metal gates locking it down. "What's in there?" he asked.

"Just a new prototype suit we've been working on," Lex said. "It is an exo-suit that will help those people whose job requires them to lift heavy things and stuff like that."

"You mean like the one Tony made," Bruce said.

"Something like that but not that sophisticated," Lex said. "Each one of his Iron Man suits costs more than three hundred million dollars. I don't think you need know how many can buy a suit that pricey?"

"Yeah, there's that," Bruce said as they entered Lex's office. "So, shall we get down to business?"

"Yeah, all well and fine," Lex said as he grabbed his seat opposite Bruce's.

00000

Coming out of the rickety place was certainly welcoming but he had no time to enjoy. He would enjoy once the city was in ruins. He loved destruction and chaos. It made him feel like the devil's agent, something he thought himself to be – the agent of evil. Everything was prepared. Although not a man of plan he had been planning this since a very long time. Just one thing made him kept going in his insane state – to meet him and face him to see where they both stood after all these years. It didn't matter to what consequences he'd have to go to achieve his desire and now it all looked quite near.

"How's the package?" he asked one of his men.

"It is secure," one of his men said.

"Keep it that way. It came at a cost and that is all we get," he said. "It is for a very special occasion which I hope to avoid."

"Why avoid it when you can end it?" one of his henchmen asked.

"Because the occasion won't know me like he does," he said. "I want it to be the perfect attraction. It is, after all, a plan to take out a bigger target for one of our friends and also to help me meet him. How's the cocky bastard?"

"Still struggling but you really did a number on him, boss," the henchman said.

"Well, what can I say? I've still got the skills. Bring him to the building. The rest of you, get to work!"

00000

Steve and the others got the alert when they received a message from Hill.

"What's going on?" Natasha asked, entering the meeting room where Steve and Barton were already present.

"Satellite's picked up small amounts of radiation spikes," Hill said through the conference. "It's Gotham City. We don't know what's going on because that city is, well, already a mess but we picked it up two days ago. We don't have any leads because nothing suspicious is seemed to be going on inside the city. The authorities have been alerted, though but seeing no sort of apparent danger has given them any reasons. Bomb squads have scanned every corner of the city to find any bombs but they've failed."

"Radiation spikes, is that nuclear?" Steve asked.

"Not nuclear but apparently the next best thing," Hill said. "We can't pinpoint the exact location and that is why it becomes more dangerous. Each explosion, according to our calculation covers a two-mile radius. That's enough to take out about a thousand people at least, considering Gotham has about four hundred thousand people living there."

"So you want us to go in?" Natasha asked.

"We want you to be discreet," Hill said. "After the incidences of New York, DC and Metropolis the government is already not in your support and the local authorities won't take it kindly for your help."

"We'll be careful."

Everyone turned around to see Tony enter the room.

"You look tired," Natasha said.

"Yeah, well, what's new about that?" Tony said. "So, how many of us are there?"

"The ones present in the room," Hill said.

"Where's Banner?" Tony asked.

"You really want Banner on this?" Barton asked. "He avoids circumstances where he can turn into the other guy of his. Besides, it looks like a covert mission so I guess we'll be good."

"I don't know much but I've never heard good things about that city," Natasha said.

"I second that," Barton said.

"Let's form a plan," Steve said. "Let's figure out the time window that we've got and get in and out without letting the authorities know."

"How safe are we on this one, again, Hill?" Tony asked.

"Not safe at all considering SHIELD no longer exists," Hill said. "You guys are on your own from now on."

"Quite a motivation, thank you," Barton said looking towards the monitor. Hill smirked before the monitor turned off.

"Something still bugs me about her," Tony said.

"Can we call Clark on this one?" Barton asked.

"What job does Superman's got on a covert mission?" Natasha asked.

"You know, we are dealing with very dangerous bombs here," Barton said. "He could come in pretty handy, I mean if you understand."

"I'll give him a ring," Tony said.

00000

Bruce looked at the surveillance monitor. He sighed. "Let her in," he said.

A minute later a knock was heard and Bruce opened the door. "I told you not to come here," he said.

"Gotham's in danger," Barbra said as she entered and fished out the flash drive she had brought with herself. "You need to see this."

Bruce hooked it up to his tablet and let the media file open. First were a couple of surveillance footages taken from inside the Arkham asylum and outside streets. Then was the recording of the cop who had beat up the child. Bruce paused that audio. "I know that voice," he said, hearing the voice of the child.

"I have security footage of the incident," Barbra said as she opened the media file.

Bruce looked with emotionless eyes as the cop beat Jason. He wondered what the boy was doing out there all by himself on that night. "Where is he now?"

"Gotham General," Barbra said. "I overheard the cop talk on the radio and spotted his location to find this boy in that state. I called in the emergency number. How do you know him?" she asked.

"Long story," Bruce said.

"Of course it is…where are you going?" she asked.

"Gotham General," Bruce said.

"Send in a proxy or someone else," Barbra said. "You going there for a mere kid will attract attention. There are far bigger things that are going on. BRUCE!"

He stopped at that call and turned around. Barbra was breathing hard.

"The city is in danger," she said. "In one of those media files you will find a recording about a group of people talking about a series of explosions to shake apart the city. The conversation was over a very secure network so you won't find it anywhere else and neither with other people. I hacked the Wayne Enterprises satellite to also record a little radiation spike in the vicinity of Gotham City but it was then subsided. Chances are they've already placed the bombs in lead containments. We have to find those bombs and we can't trust the police because you just saw why."

"There's got to be someone behind this," Bruce said as he opened up another voice recording. "Well, what can I say? I've got skills…" Bruce stopped the recording mid-way as his eyes widened with surprise. This couldn't be him. He would be too old to do anything and yet he sounded like the day they had first met.

Barbra saw Bruce shaking but it was from surprise rather than any other emotion. "Is everything alright?" she asked when Bruce's phone rang. Bruce took it out to see it was Tony.

"Yeah?" he answered the call.

"Your city is in danger," Tony said from the other side. "I don't know why or how but one of the remaining agents of SHIELD got some radiation spikes on their satellites. I suggest you move out of the city and also inform as many as possible. Don't trust the cops, Bruce." The line was disconnected. It seemed like Tony spoke while he was en route to Gotham – in his Iron Man suit.

"Also, I have a feeling Blake's missing because these people are holding him somewhere," Barbra said as she saw Bruce looking at his phone. "I want to help, Bruce. Please, let me be of help!" she pleaded.

Bruce looked at her and then outside the window. The sun was setting as he walked towards the window, his light reflection looking back in his eyes through the window pane. Suddenly the emergency news broadcast attracted their attention. Barbra turned up the volume.

"…to us all. The police commissioner was found dead at her resident and the police are looking into the matter right now," the reporter said.

"Whatever it is, it is happening now," Barbra said.

"The Avengers are on their way," Bruce said.

"Are they coming here right now?" Barbra asked as she picked up Bruce Tablet before Bruce could say anything and tapped the screen furiously. She then looked towards him to see Bruce was looking at his fist, tightly closed, already crushing his phone when suddenly the entire penthouse shook as if a powerful earthquake had struck Gotham. The window panes cracked as shrieks and cries of people outside followed next. The dimly lit room got filled with fiery colors as both Bruce and Barbra looked outside to see half the city burning. The news broadcast no longer displayed. The connection was lost. The reporter must've been caught up in the explosion. Barbra's phone rang. It was her father calling.

"Tell her you are safe," Bruce said. "That you are outside Gotham and at a friend's."

Barbra picked up the call. "Barbra, where are you?" Jim said, sounding worried over the phone.

"I'm fine, dad," she said. "I'm outside of Gotham, towards the Indian Hills with my friends."

"Don't go anywhere," Jim said. "I'm coming to get you!"

The call was disconnected when Barbra saw Bruce calling someone. She realized it later that it wasn't a call but a text. Bruce had texted her father anonymously that she will be fine and that he had work to do.

00000

Clark flew over the skyline of Gotham, looking around with his vision and hearing anything odd. Tony and the others hadn't arrived yet. Tony had informed him that they were on their way. The sun had set and the city hat lighted up, people going on with their lives. Clark floated around, trying to locate the bombs but he didn't know how because he had no technical expertise and he had no idea how many and where the bombs could be when suddenly he felt something. His facial expression changed as he blasted off towards the city streets when the shockwave forced him back a little.

The bright light had blinded him for a moment and it also affected his ears since he was using his enhanced hearing ability that it did a number on him when the explosion took place.

The shrieks of the civilians filled his ears as the city underneath him burnt like hell. Multiple explosions had happened altogether, taking out the city by surprise. Clark didn't know how many were caught in the explosion and a part of him feared to know the number. Suddenly his earpiece beeped.

"What happened?" it was Tony.

"The bombs, Tony," Clark said. There was shakiness in his voice. "The bombs went off. I couldn't do anything!"

Tony swore under his breath as his thrusters blasted him towards the city at supersonic speeds. The quintjet containing Widow, Rogers and Barton also headed towards the city quickly.

Clark floated down on the streets, looking around with his x-ray vision to find any civilians trapped. All he could see were dead and burnt bodies of the people who were caught in fire. He looked around. No trace of life was left from where he stood.

He flew towards the sky, looking around. His brain wasn't working properly as he looked desperately for any survivor when he heard emergency sirens. He immediately blasted towards the source of sound because he knew that the city EMT will need help in all of this chaos.

00000

Jim Gordon was hurryingly getting ready when he heard a firm knock on his door. He opened it to find a familiar face. "Captain Yindel," he said, stepping aside to let her and the two other guard cops inside his apartment.

"Sorry to come in so suddenly," she said, looking around for a bit before her eyes rested on the old face in front of her. "James Gordon," she said, looking at him in the eyes. "I suppose you know what is happening in the city right now?"

"All I heard were multiple explosions," Jim said, looking out of his window to see the burning city. "What's going on?" he asked.

"We have no idea," Yindel replied. "Although we did got an anonymous tip a couple days back that there was a rumor flying on about a series of bomb explosions to take apart the city. We responded as discretely as we could, just to make sure that this wasn't some sort of a prank and to not worry the people unnecessarily if it actually came out to be a prank. We didn't find anything. I suppose you can understand why because of the size of this city…"

"You didn't give in your heart to it," Jim said. "I don't know how long you've been a cop but I've heard nothing but good about you, captain…"

"Please, call me Yindel," she said.

"What I am telling you is that you should've been more active about it but I am also not blaming you," Jim said. "I know you give it all according to yourself and I understand that. But let's not forget that this is Gotham we are talking about. Dangers come unannounced and you had information about the explosions so why didn't you respond accordingly?"

"I suppose I never thought anything like that could ever happen in Gotham," she said, looking down. "Growing up, I came to know about you," she said, raising her eyes to look at him once again. "My father was a cop in your special crime unit when you ran things as commissioner. He had told me great things about you and believe it or not you were the reason I became a cop and now after what's happened to this city I take it all on me to not being responsible completely to my causes. I am sorry to fail you although you don't know me that well as I had just entered the department a year later after you'd retired."

"So why are you here?" he asked.

"I am here to seek help," Yindel said. "As captain of the GCPD and in the dire situation of the police commissioner being dead the whole command of the GCPD has fallen under me right now and I don't know what to do…where to start. This is why I am here. I know this is not the way but seeing we are in a situation where we are not getting an immediate help from the outside world I, Ellen Yindel, the Captain of Gotham City Police Department wants you to take charge of the city's police force. I do so knowing full well that I have no confidence nor the ability to handle a crisis situation like this and in doing so I accept any and all charges that seem fit to be implemented against me for taking a decision outside of the law like this." Saying that, she took out the recorder from her pocket and turned it off. "These two," she said, pointing to the two police guards, "will serve as witnesses if this thing ever got in the court but for now all of that can wait. Half of the city is burning like hell and the other half have the citizens running around, some wreaking havoc, some desperately trying to save themselves and their loved ones. The criminals are back on the streets. Explosions surrounding prisons were targeted with strategy making sure not to damage the prisoners but to free them as well. Whoever's responsible for this I am sure that a very detailed plan went underway to bring about such destruction. So," she said, taking a step back, "are you coming to help?"

Jim looked at her and then outside the window at the burning city before taking in a long breath. "I'll grab my coat."

00000

Clark could not hear it amongst the sound of people crying around all over the city so when a bullet was fired at him and when he realized that it was too late to dodge he was sure that he was invincible to the bullets but when it penetrated his skin and in doing so gave him a burning pain all over his body he was sure that something was not right. The bullet got stuck inside him and he immediately lost all of his strength and also the pain was unbearable as he fell down, blood coming from his wound and his mouth. He tried contacting the others but his earpiece had fallen a bit far from him. Courtesy of flying at blinding speed with suddenness. He cursed his luck as his vision blurred and he lost consciousness.

00000

Tony flew Barton on the roof of the GCPD building. It served as the idea spot for keeping eyes on the ongoing situation. Grudgingly Tony had let Steve make the plan as Steve was good in making plans, especially if it was a dire situation. Tony would keep eyes from the sky while Barton would do so from the GCPD building. Steve and Widow were to keep the fight and civilian rescue and EMT help from the ground. It was a sudden plan but they all wondered how they will achieve it when the chaos was happening all around the city.

The streets were a mess as people were running around in fear and agony. The burnt smell of flesh and other things filled the air and made Tony sick for a bit but he handled himself. An image of New York came into his head that day when Loki had opened the portal up in the sky and hundreds of Chitauri came down flying, killing and destroying any and everything in their path.

"J, can you get a count…on the dead?" he asked.

"The satellite can't pick up an accurate number of data because of the fire and lack of accessibility due to the malfunctioned cameras all around the city," Jarvis replied.

"Malfunctioned cameras?" Tony muttered. "Are all cameras malfunctioning?"

"I am afraid so, sir," Jarvis said.

"So this was an inside job," Tony said. "Alright, trace any active bombs and please contact Superman."

"I tried but he does not seem to be responding," Jarvis said.

"Not responding?" Tony said. "What do you mean? Track him."

"Already on it," Jarvis said.

00000

"Where are we going?" Barbra asked.

"Somewhere hopefully safe," Bruce said as the helicopter started flying. In the night sky the city burnt like anything. Barbra gasped as she looked down the chopper. People were running everywhere, many taking the opportunity to steal from stores, beating others. She also saw three men in a corner with a woman who was crying her lungs out as parts of her clothes were scattered on the ground. Barbra closed her eyes on that scene. She couldn't find up the courage to see it. Gotham had gone to hell. Suddenly the chopper gave a shake. They had arrived at their destination. It was the orphanage or more accurately the former Wayne manor. The chopper had landed on the roof.

"What are we doing here?" she asked as the two got off the chopper.

"The manor is outside city limits," Bruce said as the two climbed down the stairs. He didn't go inside the manor but around it. The estate was huge. Barbra looked at the building. "Where are the children?" she asked.

"Safe inside," Bruce said.

Barbra saw that an EMT vehicle was parked outside the bounds of the property with a police team awaiting any threat. She followed Bruce as they reached to the end of the estate on the opposite side. It was covered with vegetation and not properly taken care. Since the estate was so huge no one would notice anything this far from the manor anyway although there was a beautiful lake built here and a small cabin.

"What is this place?" she asked.

"My parents used to bring me here," Bruce said as they walked towards the small cabin. "This was built as per my mother's wishes. My parents would often come here on weekends and we spent the entire weekend here."

Bruce opened the door and the two entered. There was nothing there inside the cabin except for a few chairs and bulbs hanging from the roof.

"You might wanna stay in one place," Bruce said. "Don't go near the walls."

"Why?" she asked as Bruce reached to a picture hanging on the wall and removed it to reveal a small button. He pressed it and the entire floor of the cabin started mobbing downwards. Barbra lost her balance for a moment before standing steadily as they went deeper underground. She looked up at Bruce with a glint in her eyes. "This is it, isn't it?" she asked.

Bruce didn't answer as the floor elevator stopped moving. Barbra turned around to see the huge cave in front of her. The screeching sound of the bats only confirmed her guess as she tentatively stepped off the platform and into the cave's entrance. It was cold in here but that was because it was all wet.

"Is this…?" she couldn't find words to express what she was seeing as she ogled everything with wide eyes when her eyes fell on a set of monitors in one corner on a platform. Only then she realized and looked below. They were still not deep enough. Various platforms were raised inside the cave for various things, bridges connecting them together. One platform had a collection of monitors and servers which Barbra was twitching to get her hands on. The other platform had some things covered under tarp and another platform had two huge things covered under tarp. A fourth platform had enclosed containments - a series of them – at least ten that she guessed probably had something important in them and a fifth platform had a huge metal door protecting it. She wondered what was inside that when Bruce got her attention.

"Stop wandering off in your thoughts," Bruce said.

"Is this…Is this the Batcave?" she asked in a whisper because she still had difficulty finding her voice.

Bruce didn't say anything but started walking towards the platform which had the huge metal door in it. When Barbra tried following him he told her not to with a gesture. She immediately stopped in her tracks and watched Bruce walk up to the door and place his hand on the scanner o the door's side. A moment later it beeped and a rumbling sound echoed inside the cave, disturbing some of the bats as they screeched in annoyance while some flew around. Suddenly a humming sound filled the cave and Barbra saw the systems on the first platform turn on. Bruce came out of wherever he had gone and closing the door behind him walked towards the platform with the servers and systems. He then gestured Barbra to come and she happily did.

"I will give you one chance since you've been so immensely and annoyingly persuasive about being involved in all of this," Bruce said and turned around and pressed a button on one of the keyboards. The monitors all synchronized and started working as one big giant monitor with a satellite view of Gotham City. Bruce then turned towards Barbra who was ogling the thing with a different shine in her eyes. "I want you to operate from here tonight. Follow my instructions and don't do anything unless you're told to. That would reduce the risk of jeopardizing the mission."

"Mission?" she asked when she realized what Bruce was talking about. "Wait, you're not thinking about going out there as…as him, right?"

"There is no other way," Bruce said in an admitting tone. "The emergency teams can't reach everywhere and communication's been affected all over the city along with the entrances so even the army is having problems reaching to us. the streets are filled with criminals, some of them from my past and I have my guess that one of them is him."

"Who?" she asked as Bruce inserted Barbra's flash drive into the system and opened the recordings. Opening a voice trace window on the system he copied the recording in it and a minute later an image popped up in front of them. Barbra gasped as she looked at the image that was in front of her. "This can't be true!" she said. "He was mentally incapacitated."

"If anything I'd ever known ever the years fighting him is that never to expect anything from the Joker," Bruce said. "To expect any of his moves has always been a mistake because that guy is not someone who believes in strategies and plans. He is a guy with no purpose but one – to spread chaos and anarchy and he would do anything to achieve that just because it is fun for him."

"So the other guy that night whom the cop was reporting to was Joker?" Barbra asked.

"I need to trace every form of wireless communication taking place in the city," Bruce said. "That won't be difficult as cell towers are down so that would leave you with radio and very strong satellite signals."

"Military tech," Barbra said, understanding.

"Right," Bruce said, not sounding impressed but admitting it a little. "Enable heat signature trace and satellite view to keep eyes over the city and see if any cameras are working. I know you can use them as your eyes so do and if and when I ask directions it is your job to give me the shortest possible routes. Also…"

"Also what?" she asked, turning to look at him.

"How is your multi-tasking skill?" Bruce asked.

Barbra only smiled at him.

00000

Steve was indulged with two criminals who had kept him busy for a while. It was annoying considering the fact that apprehending or incapacitating them was proving difficult. Knowing he could not kill anyone had only made it difficult for him while the shrieks and cries around him distracted him. Nat had separated from him, following a couple of guys who were having their way with a girl in the darkness of the alley. Steve could only hope she caught every single one of them as he dodged another fatal strike from the guy in front of him who was swinging the rather long crowbar blindly at him when he heard a familiar tinkling sound and looked down. Someone had thrown a smoke grenade but why? Being a super soldier had its perks as Steve was immune to basic poisonous gases so he didn't give it much attention so when it exploded and covered Steve only then did Steve realized his mistake and how wrong he was about the smoke bomb. It was a smoke bomb but very lethal and unlike anything Steve had encountered before as he breathed more of that stuff inside as his vision began to falter. He looked around and the cries of the people filled his ears even more. It was like they were screaming right in his ears as he closed his ears and lost his balance. The guy with the crowbar grabbed this opportunity and rained down on him from every direction possible as Steve received blows after blows but he was in no position to call for backup as he prevented himself from seeing the dead face of Peggy and Bucky and everyone else around him. He didn't know why he was seeing their faces but they looked scary and in a manner that made Steve feel scared, so scared that he wasn't responding to the attacks that were currently happening to him. The pain was there with every hit he took from the crazy guy but he could not respond. This gas was unlike anything he had ever experienced. In the event his helmet flew off and a strong blow to his head made him lose consciousness as Captain America fell hard on the ground, blood trickling from his cracked skull and wounds, turning his blue suit to somewhat red.

00000

Barton informed Nat about Steve's unresponsiveness while Tony had already known about it so he had Steve track with the tracker that he had put in everyone tonight. Steve was not moving. He was in some warehouse by the docks and when Tony, out of curiosity, tracked Clark's bio signatures he was also found there. Unfortunately since Clark didn't have any tracker on him Tony couldn't check his vitals like he checked Steve's which didn't look that good. According to the data he had received Steve was unconscious and from the situation it looked like Clark was, too but how? Who could apprehend them both? There was no record of any superhuman or enhanced individuals in the vicinity of the city. It was a terrorist attack and there were mere criminals on the streets. Was someone else hiding down there? Tony had heard about how Central City had its metahumans – a silly term according to him that the authorities of that city had used to call them – but that was it. There was no other situation like that anywhere else in the country at least. So what had happened? Who could take out Steve and especially Clark? The man who had the power to move mountains was taken out?

As Tony thought over that his scanners warned him of something coming towards him. He immediately dodged the bullet that struck the signboard behind him as Tony turned around to see a man in leather suit. He wore a mask with a red targeting lens fitted on the left eye. He also had several guns all around him – on his wrists, his belt and big giant ones strapped on his shoulders.

"You know, seeing you with all that weaponry I believe you will definitely make my friend Rhodey quite jealous," Tony said as he avoided another shot at him. The masked man fired shots after shots while moving altogether and dodging Tony's attacks when one of them hit his leg and he fell down with a curse. Tony landed beside his head and lifted him up, unmasking the guy to see it was a middle-aged man. "J, Id scan, please?" he asked Jarvis.

"The man is Floyd Lawton," Jarvis said. "A marksman and assassin and a former member of a secret government team known as Task Force X."

"Secret government team, huh?" Tony said. "I have to tell those were very good shots that you took. Unfortunately you have nothing but guns and you see me? This is a titanium suit that I'm wearing which your guns or even RPGs can't penetrate. Now you tell me who's behind this attack and I might let you live!"

"Oh, always the eager one, eh, Stark?" Lawton said with a smirk. "You know, he was right about you."

"Who was?" Tony asked.

"I can't tell his name because then he will kill my family but yeah, he did say that you had a tendency of getting distracted."

Tony tightened his grip on the guy when something struck his suit. Before he could think of anything his suit had powered down and he could feel the heavy suit on his body as he fell down, losing his balance. "Jarvis?" he said but there was no response. The suit was so heavy without power that he was having difficulty moving and he couldn't get out either so when a few bullet shots forcefully opened his visor Tony knew he was in trouble. Before he could do something a piercing pain shot through his left shoulder as the guy had forcefully penetrated a huge rod in his shoulder, tearing through his suit's joints that failed to hold under the absence of the magnetic field that enhanced the suit's joints and connections to make them stronger. Whoever this guy was he sure knew how his suit worked because Tony had not told anyone about it. Even Rhodey didn't know about this although his own suit had this ability.

"Tony, are you alright?" Barton's voice ran in his ears. "Tony?"

Before Tony could answer he lost his consciousness when the man hit his head with the butt of his gun.

00000

"Nat, do you copy?" Barton said.

"I'm here," Nat answered.

"Tony's apprehended," Barton said. "So are Steve and probably Clark as well."

"What?" Nat said.

"I suggest we pull back," Clint said. "There's something much more going on in this city and I don't thing engaging any more would do us any good."

"Are you saying we pull back?" Nat asked.

"And come back with reinforcement."

"There's no reinforcement for us, Clint," Nat said. "There are no longer any SHIELD protecting and providing backups to us. We are on our own."

"Well, then let's wait for the military to show up," he said.

"There's no telling when or if they'll arrive," Nat said. "Besides, Tony and the rest could be in danger."

"And we don't have any way to track them," Barton said. "What should we do?"

"Are you still on the GCPD rooftop?" she asked to which Clint replied positively. "I want you to scan the area from where you are and guide me to you. With everything that's happening we need to work together from now on and not separate."

Barton took out the tablet he had in his back and turned it on. A satellite view of the city came up and he tracked Nat. He also tried tracking others but it didn't turn out to be successful. They probably had their trackers removed. Someone knew how the Avengers worked. And who could've imagined that Superman could get apprehended?" He paused as he looked below. A commotion of police officers had started to happen as a patrol car stopped in the vicinity. "I have eyes on a new entry," Barton informed Nat. "Subject is police captain Ellen Yindel. She is accompanied by an old man I have no clue about."

"Give me a visual?" Nat said and a moment later her earpiece beeped. She took out her phone and opened the picture. "That's former police commissioner James Gordon," she said. "I wonder what he's doing here."

00000

Jim entered the GCPD building. He looked around. Sure a lot of things had changed. Things had become a lot more high-tech since the last time he remembered it. When he had joined it was just a rundown sort of arched building that looked like a closed-off subway station. As he walked around it appeared that the other cops and detectives were already filled in with the situation and his reason to be here when he noticed someone he immediately recognized. A smile came upon his face as he walked over to the woman and hugged her tightly.

"Harper!" he said in his old man voice as he broke the hug and looked at one of the most loyal cops of his time when he and Harvey and others used to fight for the city. "How have you been?" he asked.

"Alive and fortunately well," Harper said. "How's retirement treating you?"

"It's a little boring to be honest," Jim answered. "I had the image of you as the police captain if not the commissioner."

"You know I like working on fields," she said. "But if you really want it then let me tell you that people here listen to me more than captain Yindel. No offence, ma'am," she said with a smile, looking towards Yindel.

"You know that's true," Yindel replied with a smile of her own. "Although we don't have enough time for pleasantries. Mr Gordon, like I said, the entire GCPD has agreed for you to take command and whatever you say from here will be your command to us."

Jim looked at her and then at Harper who only nodded at him like the old days whenever any danger was faced by the city when suddenly the door to the other side of the room opened and a cop entered. He had an envelope in his hand which he brought to Jim.

"Sir, this was just dropped by a drone on the back side of the GCPD building," the cop said. "It addresses to you."

"A drone, huh?" Jim said sarcastically as he took the envelope from the cop's hand and opened it as he walked towards a private corner. As he read the complete letter his eyes widened. He flipped the letter to see there was nothing as Harper walked over to him, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"What's the matter?" she asked.

"It's him," Jim said, showing the letter to Harper who also read it. Although she had not been to many exertions with Jim in the old days she clearly knew what the letter meant. "I received a text from an unknown number today evening just as soon as the explosions happened. 'She's safe' it read and I felt relieved for some reason and didn't give it much thought."

"Do you think it's really him?" Harper asked.

"Seeing that the city is in overall danger I suppose why not?" Jim said.

"But why after all this time?" she asked.

"That's worrying me too," Jim said.

"What, his apparent return?" Harper asked.

"No," Jim answered. "The fact that Gotham needs him to return if it is all that true I mean."

"Is everything alright?" Yindel asked as she walked over to them.

"You said you are giving me total authority over the GCPD to tackle the problem?" Jim asked, a sort of command in his voice.

"Ye…Yes," Yindel said.

"Seeing how I have come to know about your principles regarding some things," Jim said, "I don't want you to judge me as I accept the fact that I can't do this alone."

"What do you mean?" Yindel asked, looking from Jim to Harper to back to Jim.

00000

Barbra got back into the chair as the large monitor showed her the various live images of Gotham City. Bruce had just left the cave and it definitely looked like he was not that much prepared. He was going to do this after a really long time and he looked guilty for some reason. She didn't know what the reason was but she had promised herself to help Bruce in any way whatsoever necessary to bring down the chaos happening in Gotham tonight. The drone that she had sent with a parcel to her dad had returned. She looked at it and then at the live sat-feed of the GCPD building. There were two individuals at the rooftop currently. Changing the viewing angle as much as she could since none of the surveillance in the city was working she managed to get a look on their faces. It was the Black Widow and the arrow guy who worked with the Avengers. She programmed the satellite to look for other Avengers in the city and found two matches – one of Tony Stark and the other of Steve Rogers, a.k.a. Captain America. Since most of the Avengers' real identity was already known it wasn't hard for her to locate them. She found them in one of the warehouses near the docks of Gotham harbor. She opened her channel and a small window that gave her Bruce's location. A moment later his voice was heard in her earpiece.

"What is it?" Bruce asked over the comm.

"I've got eyes on Iron Man and Captain America," Barbra said. "There's a third heat signature that I can't identify because of data lack but the three are currently in the warehouse number four of Gotham docks. Also, Black Widow and the arrow guy are at the rooftop of the GCPD building."

Bruce acknowledged. "About the other thing?" he asked.

"Already on it," Barbra said as a series of rumbling sounds were heard inside the cave. The large monitor displayed a series of small windows, each showing a different live feed through very sophisticated cameras as she reached out for one of the buttons on the side of the table. a mechanical sound followed with a joystick and a few buttons emerging from below the table.

00000

Nat had just arrived at the top of the GCPD building, trying to hack her and Barton's communication devices to try and contact Maria Hill bit to no avail. "Didn't know things would go this south in this mission," she said.

"I hear someone," Clint said, grabbing Nat's attention which immediately stopped her work and stood up, both of them hiding in the shadow of the large water tank on top of the building. A moment later the door leading to the roof was opened and two people came out. Nat and Clint recognized them both.

"I still don't understand if he is the real one," Yindel said as the two came on the roof.

"I have my doubts too, captain," Jim said. "But if he is the real one then we definitely are in danger."

"And if it is true then wouldn't he be old?" she asked.

"Something tells me that it's true," Jim said as the two walked over to a huge thing covered in tarp. Dirt and dust had covered the tarp over the years. He pulled off the tarp and a cloud of dust followed making the two step back a little. This one was the older one. The new signal that initially was being used to call Nightwing was on the Gotham Life Building. As he connected the old rusty wires something grabbed their attention.

Natasha and Clint were watching the two carefully, not understanding what they were talking about when something grabbed their attention. Someone had just jumped on the roof. Clint immediately turned on his thermal visor and looked around but didn't find anything when something sounded like heavy steps. The sound neared towards the two standing by the huge old signal as Clint and Nat became careful.

"Who could that be?" Clint asked when something shadowy and large came out of nowhere and stood behind the cop and the old man.

Jim turned first, already knowing who it was. Yindel followed a close second. What she saw made her eyes open wide. Clear look of surprise was on her face as Jim looked a little surprised, too.

In front of them stood a hulky figure dressed in black and a cowl covering the top half of his face. The person was wearing an armored suit that was also a mixture of a little exo-suit. What Jim noticed first, however, was the uncovered chin area of the man. It had wrinkles – and the same grim look which he recognized immediately. A part of him wanted to smile looking at the man with whom he had worked so long during the old days but that time would come later. Yindel would only look at the man in surprise. He definitely looked old but looking at his armored suit she wondered who would pick a fight with this person. She sneaked a glance at Gordon who had a contended look on his face. So he was the real one. She wondered how old this guy was.

"Who's that?" Clint asked, clearly surprised that he didn't see the man come on the roof.

"Looking at the way he is dressed and the symbol on his chest I'd say I recognize him from somewhere," Nat said. "Although I could be wrong because I only heard about the guy. If he is the real deal then all of the urban legends that I heard about him are true."

"What urban legends?" Clint asked.

"I read about this guy from one of the very old records that SHIELD had," Vat said. "He goes by the name Batman and Fury told me how eager he was for this guy to work with the SHIELD. According to him this guy's got great resources for intel decryption and other very impressive skills. SHIELD never got even close to this guy even when Fury had allowed all of SHIELD's resources and people after him. This guy's good."

"You look old," Jim said, looking at the old friend eye to eye. "Never really thought I'd see you again."

"Sorry for bringing you out of retirement," Batman said as he looked at Yindel. "Captain, I suppose you understand the situation?"

"I do completely," Yindel said. "Are you really him?" she asked.

"The city's been divided into two sections," Batman said. "One of them is covered with fire with many people still stuck in it. How many EMTs can operate?" he asked, looking at her.

"There are a total of forty-two with only twelve of them are currently in any condition to work. Most of them are already working on the rescuing of people," she said.

"How many riot police personnel can you dispatch to the other part of the city?" he asked. "The people are destroying their own city. If they break then this city breaks and then it won't matter whether or not we save this city."

"We have about a hundred or so," Yindel said. "I don't have much information. Some of them are stuck but I will gather everyone I can find."

"Good," Batman said. "Have the EMTs go to the fire covered areas. You will receive assists in moving the debris and find any and all vehicles capable of transporting people to the hospitals. As of this moment on declare an emergency in the city. we cannot wait for the military to show up. The skies are being targeted."

"That's true," Yindel said. "We've already have three military choppers down. I don't know if any of them survived the crash. We can't even go and check them."

"What will you do?" Jim asked, looking at Batman.

"I have somewhere I need to be but I will join you soon," Batman said.

"And what about that?" Jim asked, looking at what used to be the bat signal.

"Light it up when you get the signal," Batman said. "Now go. I need a little privacy here."

Jim and Yindel nodded before going to the stairs, the door closing behind them. "Why would he ask you to light up the signal if he was already here?" she asked Jim.

"So that everyone knows," Jim answered.

"You two can come out now," Batman said as he turned towards the water tank under which Nat and Clint were. The two looked at each other before slowly coming out. "Your friends are in danger," Batman said. "They are currently being held up in one of the warehouses at the docks of Gotham Harbor. I need you to create a perimeter. I will go in and bring them out. Under no circumstances will either of you engage the ones inside the warehouse. Your only task is to take out the ones outside the building."

"Since when do we take orders from you?" Clint asked. "We don't even know you."

"You are right," Batman said. "But you also don't know this city and the people holding your team in. you go in there hoping to save your friends and you are dead. One of the guys took out Superman. You really think you can handle people like them? Just the two of you?"

"You know who's behind this?" Nat asked, walking forward.

Batman looked at her. He knew who she was. He knew about her secrets. "I have a lead," he said. "Now go."

The two looked at each other before Nat nodded looking at the Batman and went off. Batman stood at the rooftop, looking at the burning city in front of him as the sound of a series of sirens of the police patrol cars, the fire trucks and ambulances filled the air of Gotham. The two had dispatched the EMTs as Batman looked down. The riot police was here and they were ready to be dispatched as Batman saw them go towards the other side of the city.

"What's the status?" he asked over the comms.

"Two of the vehicles have been dispatched towards the docks," Barbra said. "The rest have been dispatched towards the burning part of the city. Brother Eye will take care of that part."

"Good," Batman said. "Keep me updated with live feeds from the docks. I have two of them working with me for the moment."

"Working with a team now, are we?" Barbra said with a hint of sarcasm. She didn't receive anything from the other side as she saw Batman began to move.

Bruce fired off his grappling gun towards one of the cranes on a far building and jumped off. He had the intel. With someone like the Superman down whoever was responsible for this clearly had been using kryptonite. Bruce knew that because with the kryptonite sample that Tony had sent him which his team of experts had found in one of the wrecked Kryptonian ships had the ability to degenerate and break Kryptonian cells. That meant it was lethal to Superman. Bruce made a mental note of figuring out who else could've had access to the kryptonite from the wrecked ship as he reached the warehouse where Tony and others were currently held captive. He landed on the roof without making any noise as he began to take in long breathes. He knew he was too old for doing any of this but he had no other choice and Gotham had no other choice. Besides, this was his city and only his to protect. "Visual?" he said over the comms as his cowl's visors dropped down, showing him everything happening inside the building through heat signatures. Barbra cleared the feed as much as she could.

"Your friends have cleared the path, though," she said over the comms. "Shall I send in the ride?"

"Keep it close by," Bruce said as he completed the scan of the field. He checked in his utility belt. He had everything he needed for the crusade at the time being. Taking out a pain killer for his damaged vertebrae he popped it in his mouth and waited for a minute for it to take effect. His pain subsided a little before he opened the roof door leading downstairs. He wasn't in his tip-top condition so he wanted to avoid as much as he could.

00000

Tony was the first one to gain consciousness. He opened his eyes with a painful groan and looked around in his blurry vision which improved with time. Wherever he was it was an old rickety lace with no light. There was the smell of ocean so he was being held somewhere near a dock or something. As his vision improved and adapted to the darkness in the room he realized he wasn't alone. On his left was Steve, still unconscious and twitching from time to time. Tony also noticed black dried up marks on his cheeks. Something cad come out of his eyes with his tears and had dried up in on his cheek.

"Steve?" Tony whispered but got no response so he looked on his other side and found what he could never believe. On his left was Clark – unconscious and in the worst shape then all of them. Then Tony noticed that Clark had a bullet wound and small amount of green light was coming out from it. He immediately understood what the reason was for Clark as the man looked pale with every passing minute. Tony tried to hear his breathing and was horrified to realize it was very shallow and slow. Clark was in real bad shape. He needed help. Tony tried to move but his hands were tied in thick chains just like Steve and Clark's. He also noticed that he wasn't in his suit anymore. They had removed his armor and Steve's shield as well. This was bad. As his panic arose he heard someone walk into the room.

"So you've finally awoken Mt Stark?" Tony saw a man appear from the shadows and walked towards them. He limped and used a cane to walk as Tony noticed he was old. There were scarred freckles on his face, especially on the sides of his cheeks. His face looked as if someone had cut-off his face and then pasted it back on mercilessly as there were stitch scars and signs of what appeared to be melded skin.

"What do you want?" Tony asked.

"Oh, I want nothing from you or your friends, Mr Stark," the man said.

"So why are we here?" Tony asked. "Why attack the city?"

"Oh, you see," the man said as he crouched down to come to Tony's level and looked him in the eyes, "this wasn't on me," he said. "I am not a man with plans. Never have been, like ever but when I heard of it I saw an opportunity to meet someone as it had the potential of creating that chance but then you guys come in – trying to save the day. Why don't you focus on alien attacks, huh? You all have a specialty for that kind of work? Why bother with small matters and people like us? Or are you too shallow to just barge in anywhere and try and be the hero of the day?"

Tony looked at the guy and could understand nothing from his body language. The guy, for some reason, seemed completely unpredictable to him and Tony was feeling uncertain about him just by looking at him. "Who's behind the attack?" he asked.

"Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha !" the man laughed in his rickety voice. "Well, that's something I can't answer for you," he said. "The classic secret bad guy scenario. What I can tell you is that I have nothing to do with him and he has got nothing to do with me. we both are just co-operating with each other just to gain our own objectives, which for me is to say isn't that much because I am a person who enjoys and do things that is fun for me but everyone's got objectives and goals, right? Even a mad man like me?" saying that he took his cane and started beating Tony as his laugh echoed inside the place. Tony's face was covered in cuts and wounds as it became red with blood. He was losing consciousness again when he heard something. The old man beating him stopped immediately and took a few steps back and looked around. "Well, well, well, it looks like he took the bait," he said as a number of artillery men entered the room with guns and armor piercing rounds. They all had all sorts of military gears protecting them but from what Tony could tell they weren't here for help. They were working with this guy. He looked around. Steve hadn't gained consciousness yet and Clark looked even worse when suddenly a sound filled the room. It looked as if someone had taken down an entire floor as the building shook from the impact. Tony saw as the gunmen turned around, their backs facing him. He couldn't see anything but a blur shadow and sounds of punches, kicks, people's painful screams and the sickening sound of the breaking of bones. What followed, however, was the maniacal laugh of the old man who stamped his cane repeatedly as he looked towards his men who were being beaten by a dark shadow. What Toy did manage to see was that this shadow appeared to be very fast and agile and it knew how to fight. He also noticed how the old man beat his own men when they were thrown at him.

"I knew you hadn't gone!" the man shouted as more of his men were incapacitated by the shadow. Tony tried seeing what was happening but his consciousness and vision were betraying him. "You still look in great shape, though."

A moment followed after which there was complete silence in the place. Tony regained some of his senses back as he tried to focus on what was happening. In front of him stood a tall armored figure in all black. He had a cape on his back just like Thor but only a bit longer and much wider. The man or whoever was in that suit was looking at the old man who was probably behind this all as he grabbed him by the neck. The old man was lifted up like a rag doll but it didn't stop his maniacal laugh. "I'm glad you missed me, bats!"

Tony's head immediately popped up when he heard the last word. He tried to look closely and finally realized it. He could see the faint bat symbol on the chest of the man. So the stories were true? But Gotham already had a vigilante operating. So where was he? As if on cue someone's footsteps echoed inside the room as something flew by making a swooshing sound and hit the armored man on his shoulder. It looked like he was already expecting it with the way he reacted as he didn't let his grip lose on the old man.

The Joker took a few steps back as someone entered the place. Bruce wasn't prepared for what he saw next. "Missed me?" the man said coming into the little light in the room. He had his mask off and his face looked pale

"What did he do to you?" Batman asked.

"Well, well, thank you for showing so much worry," he said. "So you never gave it up really. I see that. Never could trust me. So typical of you." Saying that he sprinted towards Batman, taking out both his batons and barraging hits after hits on him. Bruce went on to complete defense. He didn't want to hurt Blake. He was not in his right mind. Joker clearly had done something to him. Whatever it was it had for sure affected Blake's physical abilities. He was far stronger and quick than humanly possible. If it wasn't for Bruce's armor he was sure he'd be lying on the floor all bloodied, possibly dead.

"Focus, Nightwing," Bruce said. "You are not thinking through."

"Oh, I am," Blake said. "He freed me, Bru…" he didn't get to finish the name as Bruce punched him hard in the face. That, along with the armored knuckles on his gloves did their effect as Blake was thrown away. He hit the wall hard, cracking it a little bit before falling down, losing his consciousness. Bruce took a step back and turned around. The joker had gone. He walked over to Tony who was the only one among the three Avengers who was conscious.

"Are you alright?" Bruce asked.

"Well, apart from the cracked skull I'd say yeah," Tony replied. "Who was that guy? Who are you?"

"No one," Bruce said.

"They did something to my armor," Tony said sluggishly when a number of gunmen arrived on the floor, their laser target pointers pointing at Bruce and Tony. Tony saw the man reach for his face's side before looking at him.

"Duck," Bruce said and covered Tony who was the most vulnerable one present there without his armor. A moment later something crashed inside the room then two more followed. The gunmen didn't expect this and were shocked as they turned around. Three tank-like armored vehicles were now in the room their headlights lighting up the space as a whirring sound followed with a series of fires. The gunmen couldn't stand in front of the barrage of fires the vehicles did on them. A bullet stuck one of the nearby gunmen and then fell beside Tony who looked at it. It was made of rubber. A minute later all the gunmen were down, groaning with pain.

"How are they?"

Tony turned to look at the voice. "Natasha?" he said as Natasha entered the room.

"Clint's outside, securing the perimeter," she said as she looked around. "I did not expect that," she said, pointing at the vehicles.

"Move," Batman said and picked up Clark who was in the worst shape.

"Where are we going?" Natasha asked when her earpiece beeped. "What's it, Clint?" she asked.

"Umm, there's a…umm. You better see it for yourselves," Barton said as Bruce also received the message from Barbra.

"Step back," he said, turning around to tell the others as the roof of the rickety building collapsed. A whirling sound followed as a glider of some sort became visible through the dust. Through the broken roof also came down Clint. He looked at everyone when his eyes fell on Steve and Clark.

"Are they alright?" Clint asked.

"Worry about that later," Batman said. "We need to move now," he said as he fired his grappling gun on the flying thing and let the rope hang. "Climb aboard," he said.

"What about them?" Tony asked.

"They'll be safe," Batman said before he placed a tiny button on each of them. Natasha and Tony knew what those buttons were for but for the guy who had just saved them they didn't remove it. It was a tracker jamming device. Once he was done he walked over to Superman and Captain America and easily lifted them both on either side of his shoulders and carried them to one of the armored vehicles. He placed them carefully in there and then closed the door before telling Barbra to get a move on. The vehicle immediately began to move and disappeared in the darkness of the night a moment later. By now Tony, Natasha and Clint had already boarded the flying thing and so the Batman climbed in, too before the door closed and they took off. The other armored vehicles also took off to a certain location before one of them fired off a small rocket that stuck on one of the walls of the place. A minute later the whole warehouse came down with a controlled explosion.

Jim Gordon looked at the explosion and signaled the cops standing behind him. They pulled down the lever to light up the signal.

00000

The news media lit up like a Christmas tree, first in Gotham. Then the fire spread throughout the country, everyone talking about the return of the masked vigilante of Gotham.

Barbra looked at the large monitor in front of her, a small section of which was playing the city news when the splash of water almost scared her. She turned around to see the glider inter the cave through the fall. A minute later the rest of the armored vehicles entered as well. one of them came and stopped on the platform where Barbra was as by this time the glider landed gracefully on one of the platforms and its gate opened. She looked at it and couldn't believe her eyes at what she saw. Never in the world had she thought that the mighty Avengers would need help from an old, powerless man. Guess his dad was right. The Batman was something.

"Overwatch!" Barbra looked as Batman exited the glider and walked towards her platform. She stood up from her seat and looked at him and then the vehicle. "I need you to get the medical kit from the utilities section," the Batman said and turned around, walking towards the vehicle whose gate had already been opened. Barbra was shocked to see who it contained before she left the place to get what was needed.

Clint helped tony walk to the platform as Batman pulled out Clark and Rogers from the vehicle. "What is this place?" Tony asked.

"Is it a lair of some kind?" Natasha asked to which she only received the Batman's glare. The Batman first lay Superman down on the cold floor and took out a small pair of tweezers. He then inserted it in Superman's wound and after a minute's struggle pulled out the glowing green bullet shaped kryptonite.

"It's kryptonite," Tony said, looking at the bullet.

"What?" Nat asked.

"Who else knows about this?" the Batman asked, looking at Tony as he stood up and then walked over to Steve.

"No one but me," Tony said, looking at Batman. Somehow he felt intimidated by the bat-dressed man. He didn't know why.

"Someone definitely knows about them and also how to use them," Batman said as he stood up.

"Wait, that's it?" Clint asked, looking at a bleeding Superman. "You are not going to cauterize his wound?"

"Nothing that I have would work on him," Batman said. "He is an alien with near indestructible body. I can't close the wound. Give it time. It will heal itself." Saying that Batman walked over to Steve and picked him up by which time Barbra entered the cave. Everyone else turned to look at her. She walked over to Batman and helped him put Steve on the table as Batman pulled off his helmet to reveal the wound. He took out a small canister from his utility belt and pressed the knob on it to release a gas that instantly froze the open wound on Steve's head. "He needs hospital care," Batman said before walking up to the large monitor. He unmuted the audio and the cave echoed with the various news channel windows that was opened on the computer.

Everyone looked at the monitor. From what the Avengers understood Batman had returned after about twenty years, if that's what the symbol meant that had been lighted up on top of the GCPD building about half an hour ago. The Avengers knew that there were reports of a vigilante working in Gotham years back. He disappeared after apparently sacrificing himself in the process of taking an active nuke away from the city and over to the bay. He wasn't seen since then and then a few months later another vigilante started operating in Gotham. Since Clint and Natasha were the first among the people present in the cave who had joined SHIELD they knew about the vigilante as SHIELD had tried to make contact with him. The plan had never succeeded but Natasha was sure Fury would definitely have tried to contact the Batman, if he was actually this person. She noticed the chin that the mask revealed. This guy was definitely old and it made sense the kind of gears he had on his suit to help him move with agility. But his fighting style wasn't something she recognized, of course it was a mixture of several types of martial arts but there were more styles with which she had seen this guy fight the gunmen back at the warehouse. If this was really him then Fury would very much be interested in talking to him. But for the moment she knew he had saved them all from near death scenarios. Reporting this to Fury could wait. Steve and others needed help at first.

Batman pressed some buttons on the keyboard as a window popped up with what looked like a portion of a recorded surveillance video. Also, next to it popped up a chart with names. Barbra looked from where she stood as she recognized almost half of the names on the list. "You don't thing it was a collaborative attempt, right?" she asked. Everyone but Batman looked at her as she looked at Batman who had his back facing her.

"He spoke of a boss," the Batman said. "There's someone pulling the threads, someone with resources. To know about the kryptonite and the weakness of the rest of them requires high intel resources."

Tony, Clint and Natasha looked at each other before Tony walked over to Batman. "That's quite a system you've got there, pal," he said as he walked over and stood behind Batman, staring at the giant screen. "Pulling up surveillance feeds and classified data. I'd say it would've needed quite a tech expertise. Did you do it on your own?"

The Batman turned around and looked Tony directly in the eyes. Tony took two steps back as he looked back at him. The ability of this guy to intimidate others was amazing as Tony thought. "Why don't you tell me about where your security leaked that created a possibility of someone else gaining access to kryptonite?"

Tony looked at the Batman. "My security has no issues," he said. "For all I know I only told about the kryptonite to one other person besides me. I suppose you know him. His name is Bruce Wayne."

The Batman took a few steps back before opening the cowl. Tony felt as if he would fell from the shock. The wrinkled old face staring back at him forced him to think that this was some kind of a joke.

Nat and Clint also recognized the face. Everyone knew who Bruce Wayne was but to throw something like Bruce Wayne could be the Batman was something to take in. Natasha immediately realized why it was hard to track the Batman down and the next vigilante after him. With someone as rich as Wayne he'd have enough resources at his disposal. From what she remembered even an organization like SHIELD often had difficulty for funds. Of course things had changed since the last ten-twelve years but now with SHIELD officially closed and the years before it was this efficient it made sense why it wouldn't track down the Batman.

"Bru…Bruce?" Tony managed to say. "You're the Batman?"

Bruce didn't reply him but turned around and tapped another button to reveal a window that showed some type of reading in bars. "The police have begun its work" he said.

"I got it." Everyone looked at Barbra who was looking at the tablet in her hand when she looked up to realize all eyes were on her. For a moment she felt like a criminal for she was being stared at by the Avengers and the Batman altogether.

"What is it?" Bruce's voice brought her back from her thoughts as she cleared her throat and tapped the screen a few more times before giving a large swipe gesture on it and a window opened up on the large screen. Everyone looked at the image it displayed. It had the 'classified' stamp on it and the NSA watermark as well.

"It looks like someone's sniffing around," Barbra said as she opened up another image. It had the details of an off the record accessibility under a private contractor of a shell corporation. "Looks like someone gave in for a little green in their pockets," she said with a dreamy smile on her face as she looked at the large screen when she realized all the eyes were on her again. She immediately regained her composure and cleared her throat once more. "Ahem!" she coughed. "Someone definitely paid a high ranking government officer to gain access to the crashed Kryptonian ship. It looks like happened not long after Superman destroyed the large one over the Indian Ocean. The record has legal access to whoever this is but it has been tried to be kept under wraps. I wonder why."

"What about the transaction?" Bruce asked. "Tracing it will take how long?"

"Well, since the transaction was done through a number of shell corporations, many of whom as I see through, declared bankruptcy under events like the attack on New York and Washington DC and the most recent one in Metropolis it will take some time to get to the source, even for this guy," she said, pointing at the large screen. "For me it will take even longer. How long, that I can't tell because I would have to go through each and every transaction accessed by these shell companies in the last six months or so since the records don't say how much was given for this access of the Kryptonian rock."

"I can have Jarvis on to help," Tony suggested, "but considering what your system is capable of I don't think J would be of much help. So what do you call him?" he asked, as he looked at Bruce.

"Brother Eye," Bruce said, causing a change on Tony's expression.

"That sounds like the Northern Lights project," Natasha said.

"Northern Lights is real?" Clint asked.

"It is," Tony said. "So how did you gain access to this?" he asked, looking at Bruce.

"I have a friend," Bruce said before turning around.

 **00000**

 **A/N: Thanks for reading…..**

 **I've decided to add another storyline of the TV series 'Person of Interest'.**


	12. Chapter 12

"…are still unknown. There are still no sightings of him and some are saying this was done by one of the criminals to intimidate the residents of the city. Local officials have been taken to safe locations as per our sources while the police department is doing whatever they can. We still have no response from the NSA or the military considering this being a terrorist attack."

Barbra muted the news as she kept on tapping buttons on the keyboard. "We need to do something about this," Tony said as he approached Barbra. "Where is he?" he asked.

She looked at the closed door near the cave wall where Bruce had entered about half an hour ago. As if on cue the door opened and Bruce exited from the room and came towards them. He had taken off the exo-suit but the armor was still on. As he approached Steve who still hadn't gained consciousness he took out a small vial and a syringe from his utility belt and took some of the liquid from the vial into the syringe.

"What's that?" Natasha asked.

"The one who attacked Rogers wasn't some petty criminal," Bruce said as he cleaned off the skin area near Steve's shoulder. "Also known as Dr Crane he likes to go by the name of the Scarecrow. A genius in fear drug creation that is what he attacked Steve before going all crazy on him. Overwatch, do we have the complete list?"

"We do," Barbra said. "There are some names that would definitely be nostalgic for you."

Bruce injected the antidote into Steve and turned around to see the small screen on his wrist that showed the bio readings of Superman. He had improved but still hadn't gained consciousness. "The antidote will do its work," Bruce said, turning towards Natasha and Clint, "but he needs medical attention for his head injury. There's nothing I can do for that but I need you all to stay here and don't go anywhere."

"Why?" Clint asked.

"Because I said so," Bruce said.

"Who made you captain?" Clint asked, stepping forward.

"No one," Bruce said calmly as he looked directly in Clint's eyes, making him feel a bit uncomfortable, "but since not long ago the muscle of your team was incapacitated badly I'd suggest you all stay put. The streets aren't safe."

"Where are you going?" Tony asked as Bruce walked towards the exit as the glider's engine rumbled.

"I've figured out who orchestrated the explosion activities," Bruce said, "but the city is tearing itself apart. If we calm down the citizens than half of the problem will be over. Also, don't ever come to Gotham again. This is my turf."

Saying that Bruce climbed on the glider as it left the cave. Tony looked at everyone else until his eyes fell on Barbra. "Well, he has saved this city several times," she said. "This is bad enough that he had to return back from retirement tonight. This is bad sign for Gotham."

"I still can't come to grasp the fact that Bruce is the vigilante," Tony said.

"From what my father has told me," Barbra said, "the Batman came to Gotham on the night almost similar to this. The city was flooding with criminals when this shadow came out of nowhere and started saving the people. On its way it dropped criminals for the police to take care of. As days passed this vigilante became the guardian of this city and a trusted ally of my father."

"Sorry, who's your father?" Tony asked.

"Ex-Commissioner James Gordon," she said, turning around, "and tonight he was summoned by the acting commissioner to take control of the GCPD because he is the only one along with Bruce who can save this city."

"I'm all ears to your sentiments, girl but we ain't gonna just sit around doing nothing," Clint said.

Barbra smirked, looking at Clint's way. "After everything that's the Avengers have done, I suppose you know the collateral damage that you lay behind during those missions? I am pretty sure that the government would try to stop you if they come to know that you are currently in Gotham without any supervision?"

"What supervision?" Tony asked.

Barbra sighed, turning towards the monitor and typing in some command as a new window opened showing pictures of classified files from top secret government facilities. "New York, DC, Metropolis and parts of Kansas. The government anonymously voted that it is not safe for the Avengers to operate independently. A proposition is being planned to place in front of the member countries of the United Nations in the upcoming meeting which has been kept mute for reason I suppose you guys know now?"

"Why weren't we informed?" Natasha asked.

"Feels bad to be not told everything?" Barbra said, turning around. "You operating in this city was off the books already and with SHIELD gone there's nothing backing you up. Should I also add the fact that the criminals of this city took you guys out the moment you came here? Along with the guy who is almost indestructible?" she said, pointing at Clark who was still unconscious when they heard a groan. They turned around to see it was Rogers. He was gaining consciousness. "He needs to rest," Barbra said. "If I am right then the fear gas isn't out of his system yet. He wont see clearly."

Tony walked over to him as Steve tried to sit up. "Hey, buddy, lay down," he said, trying to lay Steve.

Steve opened his eyes as much as he could and tried to look around. The presence of very little light inside the cave helped him for a moment to see. "Where am I?" he asked when he looked at Tony and the drug kicked in and he saw a scary man in front of him. Tony didn't get the time to step back as Steve grabbed him by the neck. Nat and Clint stepped in quickly as Clint pulled out the sedative tip from one of his arrows and injected Steve with it. It was one with a heavy dose since normal one wouldn't have worked on Steve. Tony coughed hard, trying to breath. With the beating he had already taken being grabbed from the neck by a super soldier didn't help him at all.

"You alright?" Clint asked, looking at Tony who still rubbed his neck, taking in short quick breaths.

"I'm fine," Tony said, walking over to Barbra and looking at the large monitor. "So who's this friend that Bruce spoke of regarding his massive supercomputer?"

"I don't know," she replied. "There's a lot of things that he doesn't tell people. That's what my father had once told me. I guess he has trust issues."

"But he trusts your father," Tony said. "Does he know his real identity?"

"Who, my father?" Barbra said with a chuckle. "He doesn't care. Maybe that's why Bruce chose him of all the others. Plus there was this fact that most of the city's officials at that time were corrupt." She paused as she turned to look at him. His neck had bruised badly. Steve must've grippe him hard. "Does it hurt?" she asked.

"Not as much as the fact that Bruce is a masked vigilante," Tony said as he walked towards Natasha and Clint.

00000

"Has the party been dispatched?"

Jim turned around with a start but calmed down. "You still haven't lost the touch I see," he said, walking towards Batman. "You look older than me."

"I've lived a more active life than you in my days," Batman replied as Gordon handed him the file.

"Well, your signal divided the city into two halves," Gordon said. "Some think that it's a prank by some criminals while some are hopeful. Although there aren't many who knows who or rather what you actually are."

"I guess disappearing for twenty years have its toll," Batman replied. "How are we standing ground?"

"Barely to be honest," Gordon said. "Yindel has gone into the field with a team of her own. She is a good person, Batman. She will do justice to the commissioner position. I wouldn't want her to get hurt."

"Even though the fact that your and her thoughts on me are exactly the opposite?" Batman asked.

"Well, honesty is honesty and she reminds me of myself from the old days," Gordon replied.

"That's good enough for me," Batman said as he opened the file. "I've tracked down who actually planted the bombs in the city. A gang known as The Mutants. They've been active in the Narrows, away from the eyes of the city's authorities and police…"

"Since the Narrows has been cast out from the city limits," Gordon said. "So I guess it is obvious we wouldn't have seen this attack coming?"

"There's someone else playing part," Batman said as Jim looked at him with a confused expression. "I am not the only one whom people should worry has returned."

00000

The car drove like crazy, breaking all the road blockers as the driver pressed horn like a crazy person. Behind him was a medical van that followed close. The car stopped outside a building. It had almost crumbled to the ground because of the explosions and a good part of it was still under heavy fire.

"We need to hurry! Now!" the man driving the car said as he came out of it and ran towards the van behind his car. The doors opened and a team of officials came out. They looked like some sort of private security.

"Is he really in there?" one of the officials asked the man.

"He is," the man said. "Don't let my son die."

The man in gear gave him a nod before he and his team entered the burning building without hesitation.

00000

"Has he reported back?" she asked.

"No," she replied. "With SHIELD not backing them any longer it is difficult for them to get out of there as it is. Their comms went dead not long after they entered the city."

"Everything will be okay, Sharon," she said, placing a hand on her shoulder. "Steve's strong and he will come out of it."

"I, too, want that, Diana," Sharon said as she turned around and hugged her tightly.

Diana returned the hug. With Peggy gone she had taken upon herself to protect her legacy. Sharon Carter, otherwise known as Agent Thirteen for the now dissolved SHIELD was the only living relative and distant niece of Peggy and although the world didn't know it as the SHIELD had kept it that way Diana knew and owing her life to Peggy she had promised her and herself that she will always keep the ones close to Peggy safe all the time. That included Sharon and Steve. "Want me to go and take a look?" Diana asked, breaking the hug.

"No," Sharon said, wiping her tears. "Steve will come back, just like you said.

00000

The medical van sped through the burning street as the team of doctors inside it tried their best to keep the boy man alive. "We need to hurry!" one of the doctors shouted, opening the driver cabin window. On cue the van sped even more and a minute later it stopped in front of a rundown building with nobody around. "What is this place?" the other doctor asked.

"Ask Dr Stone," the first doctor said. "He said to bring us here."

"But it's all gone," the second doctor said as the two prepared to get the man out of the vehicle. "There's no power and we don't know if there is anything in there that's in proper condition. I mean look at the building!"

The door of the van opened with Silas Stone standing there, his face covered with sweat. "This is the STAR Labs' Gotham branch," he said. "And I have just the thing to save my son."

00000

Jim looked from the chopper as members of the mutant gang headed towards Indian Hill. He didn't know what Batman had done but it had seemed to work. He only hoped whatever Batman had planned would soon show its result as the police had started to be incapacitated. The people were going crazier by the moment and rampaging criminals on the streets wasn't the only problem for the GCPD. No backup was ever coming, like always. Gotham had always been alone, on its own. It had faced dangers equivalent to cause a country-wide emergency and even then no one came forward to help the city from the outside. They were left to die when Bane attacked, there was no help that ever came when the criminals took over the city all those years ago and there won't be anyone coming tonight.

"Whatever you are planning, do it fast," Gordon murmured as the chopper sped towards Indian Hill as did the reporters who had been informed as well.

00000

Steve woke up and looked around, not knowing where he was. His head hurt like hell and he had already thrown up twice and was feeling for a third one when a glass of lemonade was pushed in his hand. He turned to see it was a girl she wore glasses and was the one who had handed him the glass. "It'll help," she said before turning around and walking towards the large screen that Steve saw through his blurry vision.

"What happened?" he asked in a coarse voice.

"You were attacked," Natasha said as she walked over to him. He looked at her. She had a small cut on her right cheek and her lower lip. "We all were," she said, stepping aside for Steve to see Tony sitting far away. Steve didn't miss the thick bandage and a few stitches on his forehead and face. "What happened?" he asked, looking at Natasha as he looked around. "Where are we?"

"At a safe place," she said. "We were lucky, Steve?" she said. "We weren't the targets of those people. If we were then we'd all be dead."

"What do you mean?" Steve asked. "I know we weren't the targets. We knew that there was a plan to blow up the city and we responded accordingly." He stopped and looked around. "Where's Clark?"

"He was injured bad," Clint said. "He's in recovery."

"Recovery? Injured?" Steve asked.

"They knew what his weakness is," Natasha said. "They knew how to take us all down."

"What happened?" Steve asked when the cave filled with the sound of the news. Everyone turned to look at the large monitor to see Batman fighting a huge bald man dead-on. He looked injured – the Batman but he wasn't stopping. Barbra gasped as she covered her mouth.

"What's going on?" Steve asked.

"Who's he fighting?" Tony asked as he got up and joined them where Steve was. "He clearly doesn't stand a chance. That man will kill him!" he said, looking at Barbra.

"…now the officials that the man he is fighting is indeed the leader of the mutant gang," the reporter's voice came. "We still don't know if he really is the real Batman but with everything that is going on in the city tonight and the government or military unable to help us he is all we can hope for."

The Avengers and Barbra saw as Bruce barely dodged a deadly punch as he lay on the sewer water with the big guy sitting on top of him. He gained the control and hitting the large man on his back with his knee made himself free and quickly grabbed the man in a powerful deadlock. With his armored suit supporting him the Batman quickly than broke the guy's shoulder and left hand, followed by his left knee joint, letting the man fall face down in the sewer waters as he stood above his unconscious body, at first looking down at him but then looking up with a powerful glare in his eyes.

"Gee, Kol. Bats broke the boss," one of the henchmen said to another when one of the henchmen shouted from the back. Few followed soon followed by many and then every henchmen belonging to the mutant gang.

"We now have a different scenario as out of nowhere the mutant gang has started to cheer the Batman," the reporter said as the cameraman zoomed into a bleeding Batman standing tall over the unconscious body of the mutant leader.

"I never thought he could pull it off," Tony said.

"He's faced enemies far worse than him," Barbra said as suddenly the reporter on the screen got their attention.

"It looks like the Batman is about to say something," the reporter said. "Jim, focus the camera on him," she said to her cameraman on air as the camera turned towards Batman who didn't look right back at it but around, the people and more importantly the members of the mutant gang.

"The reign of the mutant gang is over!" Batman said in a booming voice. "To those who still support this man" he said, pointing at the unconscious mutant leader, "if you want to continue his legacy then you will have to face me." he stopped after then and then looked with his piercing eyes at the faces of the members of the mutant gang. Many cowered under his glare. "If you have made your decision," he continued, "then to you all former members of the mutant gang I have to say this – join me. That right there," he said pointing towards the direction of Gotham, "is your city that is burning right now. A bunch of low-lives planned and got their way tonight. I want you all to fight like a man for your city. Take it back by the right means."

The crowd of the mutant gang members cheered loudly as they raised their hands in the Batman's support.

"Kill them criminals!" someone shouted from the back when Batman's voice grabbed everyone's attention once more.

"And if you want to see me leading you into the war that is currently going on in the city," the Batman said, "I want you all to know one thing very carefully. We," he said as he picked up a fallen double barrel from the sewer that belonged to one of the gang members, "we do not fight with this. This is a weapon for the cowards. Instead, we will use our hands and our fists and stop the people responsible the right way – the lawful way so that they see the light of justice. If anyone disobeys this then you have me as my enemy. Go out there and take back the city from the criminals. And Do. Not. Kill."

The crowd cheered loudly as the glider appeared from the clouds and descended down and the Batman grappled his hook onto it and it flew away. The large crowd of the former members of the mutant gang followed with roaring cheers as the media recorded and live telecasted the entire incident over the city news channel.

"What did he just do?" Steve asked, not knowing what was exactly going on.

"He realizes he can't save the city on his own," Barbra said. "It is just like my father said what happened twenty years ago when Bane took the entire city hostage and Batman got the citizens of Gotham fight for their city."

"Did they win?" Clint asked.

Barbra turned around and looked at him smiling. "The city won," she said.

00000

Jim turned around when he heard the door open. It was Yindel. "I figured you would be here," she said. "Why aren't you overseeing the operation?"

"There's nothing to see," Jim said as he chewed on the gum. "We are incapacitated."

"So what? You are gonna just stand here and do nothing?" Yindel asked. "There was a reason I asked your help for."

"You once asked your doubt about how far apart we are on Batman that day when you came to my office, remember?" Gordon asked.

"I do," Yindel said. "I still ask myself after everything that we understand and agree on over the same side Batman is what differs our opinion in."

"You see that?" Gordon said, turning around and looking at the large signal that glowed, projecting a blurry bat symbol in the grey clouds over Gotham. "That is what gave this city hope, allowing the good people to sleep in peace every night. I suppose you remember how our city was in chaos when he first came to Gotham? We came to know about him a few weeks later when more than a few people started claiming that they saw a phantom or rather a shadow beating up criminals. Of course we had received many criminals on our doorsteps, here in GCPD but the idea of someone running around at night beating up criminals didn't sit well with us. But then again he was the one responsible for bringing our city in control that night as we came to know later on. Then one night we received a call from a patrol officer from Gotham Life Building. Apparently this vigilante had brought down one of the biggest crime lords of Gotham to us, tied with limbs spread on that very light, projecting a shadow in the clouds that resembled a rough shape. Two days later he found me, right here, on this rooftop. At first I was like you, against the idea of vigilantism and someone taking the law in their own hands but then I realized where we stood. Which ground held us. When dangers came, dangers that spread chaos and anarchy and we stood helpless he fought alone, an army of…of villains. He waged a one-mar war on Gotham's crime and he did so for over three decades. If I have learnt one thing working with that man, it is that if the situation has forced him to come out of retirement, then, commissioner Yindel, I should warn you that the coming times are going to be tough for you. You are well aware of the criminals of Gotham. We became the most dangerous city on the continent for a reason back in the days. I can only wish you luck for the tough times that are about to come."

"I will deal with those times as I see fit in the eyes of the law," Yindel said, taking a step forward and looking at the city's skyline as her overcoat moved swiftly from the night's air. "But I will never seek the aid nor will I allow a vigilante to run around free, irrespective of his intentions."

Gordon gave out a breath. "I understand," he said, taking a step back and looking up at the sky. "But I do hope you see in him what I saw in my days of experience."

"And what is that?" she asked, looking at him.

"He's too big to judge."

00000

The properties were damaged as people looted the stores; hit each other and caused panic and chaos. The EMTs had withdrawn after they brought down the fire. The chaos that spread on the streets was too much for them to handle. Suddenly people stopped when they heard an echo of hooves coming towards them. If it was the riot police then they better be prepared. The gang of people and petty criminals on the streets armed themselves with whatever they could find. Some had fire extinguishers while others had crowbars and long wrenches and other things that could prove fatal if used properly.

Suddenly the sound stopped. With the streets covered in smoke from the put out fire visibility was minimum when someone's cries echoed in the silent street. People turned towards the source of sound when out of nowhere they were shot with a series of throwing knives. One of them looked at his hand and realized it wasn't a knife but a bat shaped blade. His eyes widened in shock and surprise but he didn't get to react as a number of people put him down and the cries of a crowd filled the streets. People saw as a number of bald people ran towards them on horses. They also had baseball bats and some tools to help them fight as from the midst of them emerged a dark figure riding a horse. The people looting and causing panic stopped, unable to believe they were seeing the Batman. For most of them it was their first time seeing the caped crusader. They had heard stories about a vigilante but today they saw one.

Within moments the former gang members of the mutant gang rounded up the people responsible for the chaos and panic. The Batman strolled on his horse slowly as he looked at the number of people bound with ropes. "Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls," he said, "I am here to appeal to your community spirit. I know you've had your differences in the past. That's fine. Those who comply to that, they will stay tied up. The rest of you can lend a hand to keep our city from falling apart. I know we lost a great number of people tonight. I know that the people responsible for this heinous action deserve nothing less than death in your eyes. I want you to know that their time will come. I will ensure that they see true justice being served to this city, that you people see true justice being served to this city and to yourself but tonight is not the time to lash out in anger. Your city is falling apart. Your actions are what strengthen those people actually responsible for tonight's actions. I want you to lead by example. If anyone as any complaints keep it to yourself until this problem is dealt with. Stand up and prevent your city from falling apart. I am sure you are all eager to help."

The people looked at each other, some murmured, some hugged each other. Not everyone was untied but many were. They stood up and lined up, looking at Batman. The Batman looked down at them from the horse. He got off and walked towards them. "The city's EMTs can't function properly because of citizen panic and chaos. As Gotham's citizens it is your primary duty that our city doesn't lose control. You are this city's control. You are this city's hope – the citizens of Gotham. Do your duty for your city. Help the authorities bring back the city in control for your own sake and prove those criminals wrong."

"…and you ask me why I trust this man," Gordon said when his phone buzzed. He took it out and looked at the message when the roof door opened and a patrol officer came out with a radio in his hand. "And I guess you will, too," Gordon said, walking away form her and towards the door from where the officer had just came in.

"Commissioner Yindel?" the cop said.

"Yes?" she asked.

"There's something you need to see," the cop said, handing her the radio. The news she received wasn't something she expected. People had started to fight back those wreaking havoc and creating panic. The EMTs were being aided by the common people in rescuing others. Everywhere in Gotham the people had stood up to fight for their city in this dire need. Yindel entered her office and turned on the television. Only a few news channels were currently live and all of them had single news to air – the Batman was fighting along with the citizens of Gotham for this city. Yindel watched as Batman lead a crowd of people into a panic-filled area and they started helping people and rounding those responsible up. Yindel watched as a smile came upon her face looking at the screen.

00000

They watched from inside the cave as the city started to come under control when the huge splash of water gained their attention. They all turned around to see the glider had entered through the waterfall and had landed on the platform. The hanger gate opened and Bruce walked out, already opening his cape and cowl. Barbra noticed it first. He looked hurt and in pain.

"Help me," she told Tony as he followed her to Bruce. They both supported him and brought him to the main platform where the others were. Bruce sat in the chair, a painful groan escaping his mouth her the cape and cowl fell from his hand.

Tony looked at him, a part of him wanting to say something when Barbra beat him to it. "What happened?" she asked.

"Shouldn't that not be the primary question?" Tony asked.

"It all went according to the plan," Bruce said. "The people are starting to fight back. More than half of the city has been brought under control and the remaining is about to."

"And the joker?" she asked.

"They all are in hiding or escaped using the situation," Bruce said. "There's no way to track them at the moment but I will find them all."

"What about him?" Barbra asked. "I heard through the comms. He was there wasn't he? The Joker had done something to him."

"He didn't look himself," Bruce said as he tried to get up. Tony wanted to stop him but a gesture from Barbra didn't let him. Tony gave her a confused look before looking worried over towards Bruce as he walked over to the large computer and pressed a button. The screen went blank. "John Robin Blake," he said and an underscore character started blinking at the center of the screen before a series of command lines appeared and then a picture of Blake was displayed in the top left corner of the screen with the word 'searching' blinking below it. Bruce let out a tired sigh when 'Not found' was displayed on the screen. He turned around, taking the support of the platform where the keyboard was kept and leaned onto it. By then Barbra had come with a few wound cleaners and a couple bandages and first aid supplies. She opened Bruce's sleeve while he let her as she started cleaning the wound.

"That looked like an algorithmic command creation and analyzer," Tony said as he walked closer to Bruce. "You said someone you knew was responsible for this," he said, pointing at the computer. "This looks like the secret government project that had rumored all those years ago. Wanna explain?"

"I don't have to," Bruce said, his face a blank look.

"I don't think any more conversations r talks is a good idea," Barbra said.

"Since when did you start vouching for him?" Clint asked. "As far as I remember you, too, are meeting him for the first time tonight."

"But unlike you I know what kind of a person he is," Barbra said in a completely ignored manner that angered Clint even more but he kept control of himself. "Did you meet my dad?" she asked. Bruce nodded once. "How did he react?"

"The situation didn't allow him to react," Bruce said. "Unless the city is brought under control he leads all of the GCPD forces as per the decision of Yindel. Your father is going to be very busy so I need you to take care of him. He needs it more than anyone at the moment."

"And what about you?" she asked.

"You don't have to worry about me," Bruce said. "There's already a person who worried about me. I don't want a second one."

Barbra wanted to ask who the person was but knew Bruce would hardly tell her so she kept quiet. She finished cleaning and applying the bandages on Bruce's wounds.

"I will see that you reach home safe," Bruce said.

"I can look after myself," Barbra stopped and said as she turned around.

"This is not a debate," Bruce said. "Your father needs you right now and you are going home. You will say nothing to him about tonight. He already has too much on his plate right now, probably for the next couple of days as well. I want you to take care of him. He needs the support." Barbra nodded and left the cave, taking the lift. Bruce looked at the remaining others who stood in front of him, looking at him. "Clark," Bruce said, receiving surprised looks from the Avengers, "is almost healed," he said, looking at the small screen that was on his wrist guard in his left hand. "I need you all to follow me," he said before pushing himself up and starting to walk towards the platform through which he and Barbra had entered the cave. The others looked at each other before starting to follow him. A minute later they were in the cabin as Bruce opened the wooden door and letting everyone out. They all were in some sort of an open land. Tony looked everywhere until he saw the large lake. He remembered the place. He used to come here as a kid. They were in the backyard of the Wayne Manor estate. They could see the ruins of the manor in the distance. Without saying anything Bruce began to walk. The others followed close. It was about a half hour walk when they reached the manor. An SUV was waiting there for them.

"Who brought it here?" Steve asked.

"My assistant," Bruce said before getting in the passenger seat. He signaled Clint to take the wheel while the others boarded the vehicle. Tony and Steve took the middle portion of the SUV since they were pretty badly wounded while Natasha took the rear seat. "Take us to the Wayne Tower. The streets have been cleared up till there. Stop nowhere unless we reach the destination. Clint nodded and turned the key. The engine revved and the vehicle started to move. It picked up the speed once they were on the proper terrain.

Bruce turned on the infotainment and dialed a number. The line rang before an old voice was heard on the speakers. "I saw the news," the voice said.

"Are you alright, Fox?" Bruce asked.

"Thankfully the hospital wasn't damaged much," Fox said from the other side. "Word is that a child on the second floor helped take down three gun carrying criminals. That's all I know from inside my room other than the fact that there was a terrorist attack tonight on the city."

"it wasn't a terrorist attack," Bruce said. "Fox, the Joker was responsible for tonight's attack." There was silence on the other side of the line. Only a faint breathing could be heard.

"I did not expect that," Fox said after a minute's pause when the door to his room opened.

"Dad? You up?"

"Is that Luke?" Bruce asked.

"Yes, it's him," Fox said. "I will call you back."

"Alright" Bruce said as the call was cut. By that time they had reached the highway. There were no people but burnt and destroyed cars as they all looked outside from the windows. The GPS said to turn left as they entered an empty alley. There were a few homeless people walking around. Some of them had scars and wounds. Except for Bruce the others felt shocked to see how many dead bodies were lying on this street. Clint did his best to try not to drive over them.

"Jesus," Steve said. "We need to help them."

"They are beyond help at the moment," Bruce said. "they need medical attention but the city hospitals are completely filled right now. They can't be transported outside the city because the bridges have been blown. The dead are gone and those who are wounded will have to struggle."

"So we do nothing?" Natasha asked.

"These people will survive," Bruce said, looking at the wandering homeless people. "There are bigger things to attend right now."

The vehicle stopped at the entrance of Wayne Tower. It had taken the damage – the bottom few floors. People had smashed the windows and doors of the lobby and there was broken glass everywhere. The street was empty, however. They saw as a riot police slowly came trotting their way. "Roll up the windows," Bruce said as the others did so. The window was black tinted so nothing could be seen from the outside. Bruce exited the car as the policeman came near him. He recognized the old man as he got off his horse.

"Mr Wayne?" the policeman said. "Why are you outside? It is dangerous."

"I needed to come and check the damage the tower had taken," Bruce said.

"That can be done any other time," the cop said. "Streets aren't safe. From what I heard Commissioner Yindel and former commissioner Gordon are deciding on an impending Martial Law until everything is back in control.

"And the Martial Law was whose idea?" Bruce asked. "I suppose Yindel's?" the cop nodded. "I know Jim. He won't let that happen. Now I need to take a look inside and figure the damage. If you will allow me, that is."

"Who else is with you?" the cop asked.

"Just my assistant," Bruce said. The cop gave a look at the car before going back to his horse.

"Just be safe, sir," the cop said as he turned his horse around and trotted away.

"Assistant?" Clint said as they all exited the car. Bruce had walked inside by then. The rest entered the building as well. The lift had opened for them by then. They entered after Bruce as the lift started to go up. Bruce had inserted his personal key that had enabled the penthouse floor to be accessed by the lift. A minute later the doors opened and they were inside the lobby of the penthouse floor. Bruce walked ahead while the rest followed. He opened his penthouse door with his handprint on the scanner outside.

Entering the place he straightaway walked to a closed door. Tony noticed that despite looking like a normal door it had a password protected lock and the door was actually made of thick military grade steel. The door was at least three inches in thickness. Bruce entered and the rest followed him. It wasn't a room. It had stairs leading them down a floor where another password protected door welcomed them. It was then Tony and Natasha realized that this floor wasn't and couldn't be accessed by the lift. This was the floor just beneath the penthouse and it was nothing but a huge hall as they entered the place. Many things were kept here, all but one of them covered with white tarp. In the far right corner of the room was a glass chamber and everyone noticed who was inside it.

"Clark?" Steve said as they walked towards him, Bruce taking the lead.

"The basics of a Kryptonian anatomy is the fact that their cells are built to absorb sun's radiation," Bruce said, "or rather ultraviolet radiations. From what you said" he said, looking a Tony, "Clark's been on this planet since his early times so he is that strong. His cells absorbed the UV radiation."

"And it heals him," Tony said as he came closer to the chamber. "This is a UV chamber," he said.

"And he is about to gain consciousness," Bruce said, looking at the small screen that showed Clark's vitals. About a minute later the machine beeped and the radiation emitter turned itself off. Clark slowly opened his eyes and looked around. He saw Tony, Nat, Clint, Steve and an old man in front of him. He then realized that he was inside a glass chamber whose door Tony opened. Clark slowly walked out. He realized he wasn't in his Kryptonian suit. He only wore a boxer.

"It worked," Tony said. Clark looked at him confused when he realized it, too. His wound was gone and so was the pain as he touched where he had gotten shot. There was only a very fine scar.

"I'm healed?" he asked.

"Thank him," Tony said, pointing at Bruce. Clark looked at the man for a minute before realizing who he was.

"Bruce Wayne?" Clark said.

Bruce looked at Clark with an expressionless face. "That was a kryptonite bullet that you got hit with," he said, looking at Clark.

"I don't understand," Clark said. "What happened?"

"Someone knew your weakness," Tony said.

"Someone? Weakness?" Clark asked, confused. "What are you both talking about?"

"Stark industries acquired the rights to success one of the Kryptonian ships that crashed that day when Zod attacked our world," Tony said. "As you know me – the one with the curious mind," Natasha rolled her eyes, "I broke it apart to know how space technology worked. I found a radioactive element in the core of the ship, meant to generate power. I knew it was radioactive but it was harmless to us humans so getting a little more curious I tested it on the hair sample that you gave me for the bio scans that day. I found that the kryptonite started degenerating the Kryptonian cells. It broke them down like it was nothing. I only sent Bruce a copy of it to help me find more information behind it since I couldn't ask you because you didn't know anything about it either seeing that you were raised on this planet and not on Krypton."

"So how was I shot with a bullet made from it?" Clark asked.

"Someone else knows about your weakness," Bruce said before turning towards Bruce. "The government took a hold of the Mothership."

"But from what I've been told the ship is under heavy security," Tony said. "No one but a selected number of scientists is allowed in or out."

"Someone's definitely got the access to that ship," Steve said.

"Or maybe not," Bruce said before he took out his phone. "The world engine," he said, looking at the coordinates on his phone, "it is also Kryptonian. What happened to it when you destroyed it?" he asked, looking at Clark.

"It exploded and sank under the Indian Ocean," Clark said.

"Someone's been there," Tony said.

"But who?" Steve asked. "From what I've known you two are the only ones who knows about the kryptonite's effects on Clark."

"That's not necessarily true," Bruce said. "There's some data missing from the state website."

"But the records has to be there," Tony said.

"It is," Bruce said. "It's just a set of hard copies."

"Which means impossible online access," Nat said.

"Someone got the access to the ship," Tony said. "We need to find out whom."

00000

Barbra came into the drawing room when she heard the door close. "You woke up," Jim said in a tired voice. "How did you get home?"

"Rachel dropped me," Barbra lied.

"The girl who works with you in the library, right?" Jim asked to which she nodded her head.

"How was today?" she asked. "I heard the Batman showed up."

"He did," Jim said as he let out a tired groan, dropping his old body on the couch, a glass of brandy in his hand. "Never thought I would see him again."

"I suppose he is old now, considering if the real Batman showed up today," Barbra said.

"He is old," Jim said. "And he is the real one. I know it."

"What did Commissioner Yindel have to say to his return?" she asked.

"She was against the idea of a vigilante returning out of nowhere but when she saw his impact on the city and its people she had to step back a little," Jim said.

"I still wonder if she will be as helpful to him as were you back in the days," Barbra said.

"I worry about that too," Jim said as he rested his head on his daughter's shoulder when Barbra joined him on the couch.

"Would you like to share tonight's event?" she asked.

"I'm too tired to do anything," Jim said, finishing his drink as Barbra took back the glass from his hand and placed it on the table.

"Okay," she said before giving a small kiss on his forehead. "Sleeping here?"

"I can skip the bed tonight," Jim said with a chuckle, lying down on the couch as Barbra got up and went to his room. A minute later she came back with a blanket but by then Jim was asleep. She carefully covered him with the blanket before kissing him one last time on his forehead as she looked at him with a worried look.

"Goodnight, dad," she said, turning off the light and going back in her room. She knew with Batman being back Yindel won't be cooperative towards a vigilante's words. She was not her father. There might be a possibility that she may not be able to see the big picture. She closed the door to her room and opened her laptop. Going on to a secure network she spoofed her proxy before opening a communications channel and connected lines with Bruce's private number. A half minute later Bruce picked up the call. She was right. He wasn't asleep.

"What is it?" he asked, already knowing it was Barbra on the other side. The Avengers had just left along with Clark who flew back to Kansas.

"I need to ask you of a favor," she said.

"What is it?" Bruce asked.

"I know that now that you've returned you will be going after the people who broke out of Arkham tonight," Barbra said. "I know this will be hard for you compared to the last times as you are old now and everything else but can you please not involve my father into all of this?" Bruce didn't answer for a whole minute. "Hello?" she said on the network.

"Gordon will not be bothered," Bruce said.

"Also, can I work for you?" Barbra asked. "And by work I mean like I did tonight?"

"I'll think about it," Bruce said, cutting the connection.

Barbra looked at the network status showing that the communication line was disconnected. "I'll be waiting for your answer," she said as she closed off the connection and turned off her laptop. She decided to sleep on the chair itself as she had no wish of moving anymore at the time. She looked at the clock. It was about three in the morning. Reaching for her bed she grabbed her blanket before curling up and sleeping in the chair.

00000

Kara turned off the TV that showed the morning news. The entire national media was talking about the attack on Gotham. She knew Clark had been there last night. He wasn't picking up her call ever since then. She thought about contacting Tony but she didn't know how to. Finally as she was about to leave for school her phone buzzed. It was a text form Clark. "Meet you tonight. Don't make plans," the message read. Kara scoffed. As if she had any plans. She hadn't even made a single friend yet apart from the neighbor kid Peter. Even that was because of the situation she was in. they both were neighbors and that is why it was inevitable to talk to him once a while in school. She had learnt that Peter had a best friend named Ned who was just like him – into pop-culture. She had once asked Peter privately what pop-culture meant and he told her that he wouldn't disappoint her. She didn't know what he meant until one evening he knocked on her door. She opened the door and stood at the entrance. Apart from May and her cousin Kara had not let anyone else enter the place. She was new to this world and didn't trust anyone. Peter somehow seemed to not mind to that as he simply handed her a flash drive. It had a white tape stuck on it written 'pop-culture'. "Best advice regarding this," Peter said as he pointed the flash drive, "Watch on weekends with a large bowl of pop-corns."

Since the school was nearby she had preferred to walk. Tony had insisted on providing her with a car, a self-driving one on top of that until she learnt how to drive but Clark didn't allow it. she had seen what a car was and thought it was best to go with Clark's decision. Out here he was the one making decisions for her until she understood this world and its practices and societies. Walking towards the school she replied Clark with a confirmation text. Since it was a Friday and she had caught up with the class considering that was difficult for her as she had to understand the biology, chemistry, history and geography with much difficulty as she was unknown to those subjects. Tonight she had finally earned some free time and was planning to begin with the first movie on Peter's flash drive. Apart from that she had nothing else to do but then Clark had texted her. Guess the movies will have to wait.

"Hey, Kara." She turned to see it was Peter. He got off his bicycle and started walking with her. The school was almost in sight. "Did you watch any of those movies I gave you?" he asked.

"Haven't got the time," she said as they both continued walking.

"I see," Peter said. "So how's geography going?"

"Finally caught up," she said. Everyone in the class knew how poor she was in those said subjects. "Thanks for those notes you gave me earlier."

"Not a problem," Peter said when Kara noticed a cut on his hand.

"You hurt yourself?" she asked, pointing at his hand.

"Slipped on the stairs," Peter said. Kara noticed Peter's heartbeat jumped a little. She knew he had lied. Clark had told her this once and listening to one's heartbeat can tell you whether or not a person is lying. It was one of the first things that she had tried to master other than the laser eyes and the cold breath. Coming to this planet sure had given her many surprises in her own self. She was still not close enough to fully control the laser from her eyes but she could blow out freezing air from her mouth just fine and she was okay with that so trying to learn to listen carefully and selectively came next and Clark had promised her that he will soon teach her what he called the X-ray vision. And from his point of view it had helped him find people in trouble a lot of the times. Kara wondered why would Peter lie to her but then again he hadn't known her that long and besides, she, too, didn't trust anyone other than Clark and Ms Kent. Although Cark had told her that Tony was worthy of her trust and she had agreed in front of him but she didn't trust anyone other than these two people on this world. Maybe she will change her mind. The mindset of the humans weren't that different from the Kryptonians. She knew she had nowhere else to go and this planet was her home now so with time she will open up to others but she wondered if she would ever be comfortable in this world.

The bell for the first classes rang as she picked up her stuff from her locker. She had just three classes today and she really didn't want to come to school. Clark had been to Gotham last night where a series of bomb explosions had taken place, shaking the entire country. The news said that all the bridges leading to the city had been taken out so EMTs from other cities couldn't get there while fear of more explosions caused air support to not take place as well.

The day went by slowly. Kara tried not to sleep in the history class. She knew knowing about this world meant a lot when history came to picture but the way the teacher taught them made her feel asleep every time. It didn't help the fact that she wasn't that good in history either. But she was catching up, she kept telling herself that.

Finally the bell rang and she got out of the class. It felt suffocating in there, sitting in the corner all by herself. Peter came by to talk to her during the lunch along with his friend Ned bit she didn't indulged in much conversation. However she did notice the way Ned appeared around her. She was confused why he was so different around her.

Peter met her en route home. Ned used to take the bus so Peter was by himself back home. He got off his bike again and started walking with her.

"Why does Ned behave like that whenever I am around?" she asked. "From what I've noticed he's pretty casual with you?"

Peter gave out a nervous chuckle but stopped when Kara gave him a glare. "He likes you," Peter said after giving it much thought.

"He likes me," she said without any expression on her face.

"Yeah…you know…"

"I know what it means," Kara said interrupting him.

"So? What do I say to him?" Peter asked.

"About what?" she asked back.

"About your response to the fact that he likes you?" Peter asked.

"Why are you asking for him?" Kara asked.

"Because he asked me to ask you if you share his feelings or are willing to give it a try," Peter said.

"Why are you vouching for him?" she asked again.

"Because he's my best friend?" he said in a questioned manner but received a death glare from Kara. "Because you and I are neighbors and he thought maybe we both talked and hand out so I would ask you for him."

"Tell him what is true," Kara said. "Tell him that you and I don't know each other that well and that I am not interested in him."

"Okay," Peter said in a meek voice as they continued walking.

Kara felt bad responding the way she did as she looked at the fallen face of Peter walking beside her. "I'm sorry," she said. "I shouldn't have responded that way. It's just that I am waiting for a call from my cousin."

"Your cousin Clark?" Peter asked to which she nodded her head.

"He was in Gotham last night, covering a story," Kara said.

"Oh no," Peter said stopping and looking at her with a worried look on his face. "Is he alright?" he asked. "I saw the news this morning."

"He's fine," she said. "He texted me back. It's just normal worrying over your family members, you know."

Peter nodded before they started walking again. "So, to change the topic of conversation did you watch any of those movies I gave you?" he asked.

"No but I have plans to watch them after I reach home," she said. "I suppose I can watch one before my cousin arrives? You know, for weekly visits?"

"Aliens," Peter said, causing Kara to stop cold on her feet. "What happened?" he asked, looking at her.

"What did you say?" she asked.

"Aliens, the name of the movie I am suggesting you to start the list from," Peter said. "You alright?" he asked.

"Yeah," she said hurriedly. "Totally."

00000

The door opened leading him inside the room where Fox was. The old man turned his head to look at the man and smiled. "Didn't think I would see you today," he said.

Bruce gave a small smile as he placed a bouquet of flowers on the side table. "How are you feeling?"

"You tell me," fox said. "Donning back the cape and cowl definitely deserves a good reason."

"The Joker's back," Bruce said as he walked around and came to the other side of the bed. "Where's Luke?"

"Canteen," Fox said. "So? I heard just like the rest of the city what happened that night."

"The Avengers got the wind of it," Bruce said. "They came to town and were caught in the crossfire."

"They certainly underestimated this city," Fox said with a chuckle. "How's your other project coming along? Did you get time to contact Finch?"

"Finch doesn't want to be contacted," Bruce said. "He left it all behind for a reason."

"What about the people who still work for it?" Fox asked.

"They're all ghosts now," Bruce said. "After everything happened to it, the machine created two separate identities, although it wouldn't be wrong to say that it already did so while Finch and his team were battling another system similar to the machine. Those who work for it at the moment, the machine don't want anyone else to know their real identities."

"Still going after the irrelevant ones I see," Fox said.

"That's how Finch wanted it," Bruce said. "Now that the surveillance projects by the government have been cancelled the machine is safe and so are its subjects."

"But one thing doesn't concern me" Fox said. "Why didn't the machine warned them or you about the attack on Gotham?"

"I think about that, too," Bruce said as the door to the room opened. Both men turned to look at it to see it was Luke.

"I didn't know you had company," Luke said as he looked at Bruce. "Mr Wayne," he said with a straight face.

"How are you, Luke?" Bruce asked as he brought forward his hand. Luke shook it.

"Fine," he answered. "You will be released tomorrow, dad," he said, looking at his father. Fox smiled at his son, nodding at the same time as Bruce looked at his old friend and ally.

"Luke asked me to move in with him in Chicago," Fox said. "He thinks Gotham is too much for someone as old as me."

"And that attack proved it," Luke said. "I will not have it if you don't come with me."

"I told you I agreed to it," Fox said as he looked at Bruce. "Luke, could you give us a moment?" he asked. Luke huffed as he left the room. "I am sorry, Mr Wayne."

"For what?" Bruce said. "A son wants to help his father and believe me when I say this that he isn't wrong."

"You think I am old, too," Fox said with a dumb face.

"I am old, Lucius," Bruce said. "And you being older than me doesn't require me to finish that fact."

"So what about you going back and becoming him?" fox asked. "Wouldn't you need help?"

"You taught me enough and I will manage," Bruce said. "Take your son's word or I will." Fox watched as Bruce left the room, closing the door behind him.

00000

Kara opened the door and hugged her cousin tightly. Clark wasn't expecting this and he took a few steps back, trying to maintain his balance on the porch.

"I was so worried about you," she said, breaking the hug. "Why didn't you call back?"

"I texted," Clark said.

"That's not enough," she said as she playfully punched Clark on his shoulder before stepping aside to let him in.

"Aliens, huh?" Clark said as he entered the drawing room and saw her laptop on.

"You've watched this movie?" she asked.

"Every kid of my generation has," he answered. "How I have to ask how did you get a hold of it?"

"Peter gave it to me," she said. "In fact he gave me a lot of pop-culture movies, recommending me to start with this one."

"I'm happy that you've finally made a friend," he said.

"I had to," she answered. "No one else would talk to me and apparently Peter's friend Ned has a crush on me." Clark started laughing on that. "What's so funny about that?"

"I never thought someone would ever have a crush on you," Clark said between laughs only to receive a pillow hard on his face. It didn't hurt but it did make him to stop laughing. "Alright, I'll stop," he said, catching his breath. "So, how are your days going by?"

"Normal, I guess," she said. "I finally caught up to some of the difficult subjects of this world."

"Proud of you for that," Clark said.

"Don't steal my lines," she said. "I should've been the one telling you all of those lines, taking care of you if it wasn't for that blasted phantom zone."

"That was something none of us could've handled or taken control of," Clark said with a sad smile.

Kara looked at him apologetically before changing the topic. "So wanna tell me what happened in Gotham? I heard the news."

"That is something I wanted to talk to you about," Clark said. "And that is the reason why I came to see you tonight."

"What is it?" she asked.

"There's no simple way to put this so…" he stopped, lifting his shirt to reveal his muscled abdomen. Kara's eyes immediately went over to the scar mark.

"What happened?" she asked, worry clearly visible in her tone.

"You know how we Kryptonians have the ability to get stronger under the sun?" Clark said. "And that makes us almost invincible beings? Well. There's a weakness as well and not just any weakness but a lethal one."

"You're scaring me, Clark," she said. "What happened?"

"The ship in which Zod came along with his people, it contained a radioactive substance that is very dangerous to us Kryptonians," he said.

"So if it is that dangerous then why would Zod keep it in his ship?" she asked.

"Because it is also a source of power, a fuel for the Kryptonian ships," he answered. "This radioactive substance, from what Tony said, causes extreme degeneration on a cellular level."

"And that is to only us Kryptonians?" Kara asked to which Clark nodded. "So what does it have to do with you?"

"That night when the Avengers got the wind of a possible attack on Gotham, Tony asked me to be backup in case things went south. I agreed and followed them into the city. They all got apprehended, each of them taken down effortlessly as if they were being expected to come. I, too, was taken down."

"How?" she asked, clearly more curious now than worried.

"Someone took a shot at me from a bullet…a bullet made of kryptonite, the radioactive element," he said.

Kara looked at him as if he had grown two heads. She couldn't form words in her mouth as she looked at the scar once more, lifting his shirt herself this time. She then looked at him before giving him a tight hug. Clark could hear her muffled cries as she dug her face in his shoulder. He caressed her back as he returned the hug before finally breaking it. Kara looked at him, tears clearly visible in her eyes.

"How…How did they come to know it was your weakness?" she asked.

"That is what we are trying to figure out," Clark said. "I won't hide anything form you because you are supposed to be older than me and this is a life or death thing. When those ships crashed Tony acquired one of the ships' remains. He discovered about the kryptonite and told me. this information was disclosed to a very limited number of people."

"So how did someone outside the circle gain that information?" she asked.

"We don't know but we think there was a leak or someone wanted to know about my weakness," Clark said.

"But who?" she asked.

"it is very simple, really," Clark said. "Us being that powerful you've seen how the media and the world reacted when Zod and the rest came that day wielding threats and destruction? People fear us, Kara. Humans are fragile beings, afraid towards things they don't understand or they can't control."

"That's the nature of every living being," Kara said. Clark looked at her in a confused expression. "Just something I studied in the history class last month," she said. "So you think someone wants you dead?" she asked.

"Not necessarily," he said. "From what we came to learn that night in Gotham was that even though we went in to stop and prevent the damage done to the city, the ones who were responsible for it hadn't specifically targeted us. According to them we were just obstacles they were clearing to get to the real target."

"Which was?" she asked.

"I don't know," Clark lied, thinking it was better to not tell her about Batman and everything else that he had seen in Gotham.

"You know you can't lie to me, right?" she asked. "I heard your heart skipped a beat there. What is it that you're hiding?"

"Something that I was asked and trusted not to disclose," Clark said apologetically. "Listen, Kara, I want you safe. You are the only living family that I have from our world and I don't want to lose you ever again. So you have to promise me that you will be careful and not reveal to anyone who it is you really are, alright?"

"Okay," she said slowly before hugging her cousin. "So what now?" she asked.

"We have a lead as to from where the leak could've happened," Clark said. "Natasha, or Black Widow as you remember her, has been asked to find out whatever she can to get us another clue or possibly the real one responsible."

00000

Bruce stood in front of the large computer screen, looking at the names and pictures of a number or people when he felt the presence and turned around. John stood behind him looking at the screen.

"How ready are you?" John asked.

"Time will tell," Bruce said. "Why involve me into all of this?" he asked.

"Because of that?" John said, pointing towards the monitor. "That is something that only you have full access after he left it all behind. We needed you to do something for us and this has come in real handy for that situation."

"Is it really necessary?" Bruce asked. "This army?"

John only looked at his friend before shifting his gaze back at the huge monitor. "We can only hope that it will be enough to tackle what is about to come, Bruce."

 **00000**

 **Thanks for reading…**


	13. Chapter 13

It had been almost a month since the attack on Gotham. The news had slowly died down except for the one in Gotham. Thanks to the large scale terrorist-type attack the entire country and now the whole world knew that the Batman of Gotham had returned. Everyone thought he was dead. After all, the Batman himself had flown the nuke over to the bay where it had exploded with the glider Batman was in. No one could survive that but he somehow did. Now he was back and whatever rough news footage the media could gather over the days had only told one things to the people of the world – he was old.

The Gotham media had been divided on two teams – one rooting for the return of the Batman whiles the other against it. There had been three interviews with commissioner Yindel about her investigation on the Batman as she had presented her thoughts against vigilantism before she was commissioner. She had luckily avoided the questions those three times and from the fourth time she started to not attend the interviews which consisted questions regarding the Batman. On the face she was a neutral individual who only told the media that since the Batman hasn't killed anyone he cannot be charged with serious crimes. Rumors started floating that Yindel might also be like Gordon. Who could question that? The night Gotham got attacked was also an embarrassment to the American government. They had spectacularly failed in providing any aid to the city in any manner whatsoever. Their excuse regarding even the air supports were laughed at as it was supposed to and the state senator was called in by the president for a much needed follow-up on to what had happened in the city and where they stood with the responsibility to gain whatever little graces from the people of Gotham as it was one of the major cities of the country.

Ever since the attacks there had been numerous criminals being dropped in front of the GCPD building. Each of them had a folder containing enough evidences to sack them up for good.

The GCPD had never been in a rush like this before. Only Gordon and Yindel knew what this rush felt and the other one was already retired. GCPD had experienced a situation like this two times in the past. One was when the Batman had first showed up in Gotham and the second was after he was last seen taking the nuke over to the bay, away from the city after Bane's reign was brought to an end by him. The GCPD had been busy like hell catching the criminals involved in crimes. The jails had filled up quickly and the same thing was happening right now. Yindel and the police captain were loaded with paper works along with trying to be up to date with the several investigations going on at the same time.

The Batman had also been on a rampage, taking down criminals he could lay his hands on, finding leads that could take him to the escaped criminals and insane from the asylum. But even after all his work he wasn't even close to finding Joker. He had, however, put back many known faces behind bars like Deadshot and the Penguin, the Riddler, and others. He had taken a special interview of Deadshot about who provided him with the kryptonite bullet. Needless to say the assassin didn't say anything. Whoever this guy was who had provided Clark's weakness to these criminals, they were pretty loyal to him. This was a bad sign in two ways – one was that the criminals would do anything for this guy seeing how loyal they were towards him and the second was that this meant whoever was this guy he was pretty powerful, either with resources or himself.

Another night ended as Bruce entered the cave. He landed the glider on the platform. Exiting the glider he opened his cowl and walked over to the big computer. It was already on, running several tasks and algorithms related to many things that Bruce was working on at the moment. One of them was a continuous search for Blake. Finding him was just as impossible as the Joker. There had been no sign of him since that night Gotham was attacked.

Bruce also opened a new window that already had a search algorithm running at full load. He tapped a few keys and then pressed enter as the window expanded and showed him the various pictures of the various people he was being tasked to find out. As he looked at each of the pictures a ruffling sound grabbed his attention. He saw it was a small piece of paper folded and kept near one of the keyboards at the corner. He walked over to it and opened the piece of paper. It was from Barbra. 'Left the cave at 9. See you tomorrow. - B'

Bruce folded the paper back before tossing it in the bin and walked over to the platform and out of the cave. Exiting the cabin he walked over to the car, driving off to Wayne Tower for the little sleep he could get.

00000

Tony looked at the algorithm. It all seemed fine to him. He had fixed all the bugs he could find in the program as he ran simulations after simulations to confirm its liability. He was satisfied with how it had all turned out to be up till here. As he scrolled down the long lines of the codes his eyes scanned every single character that will be responsible for executing his future missions or in general the protection of mankind twenty-four-seven.

Taking a sip from the coffee mug Tony ran the simulation program once again. He had a few hours left of the night he thought he could use in this project of his. he uploaded a copy of Jarvis' core heuristics into the program as a test to figure out how the program would respond to a foreign code. Making sure everything was as it was supposed to be Tony sat back as he executed the simulation. The screen went blank as an underscore character started to blink. When the message 'unresponsive' was displayed on the screen after ten minutes of simulation run Tony huffed in frustration as he emptied his coffee mug before placing it hard on the table. Suddenly the screen went off. Tony looked at it before tapping some keys on the board. Nothing happened but then out of nowhere all of his company's data and soft copy files started to randomly pop up on the screen, the clientele data, the transaction codes, everything. Tony quickly realized what was happening as he ran over to the wardrobe in his lab, simultaneously calling his suit's gauntlet to help him break the door leading into the wardrobe as the gate was made of metal and he didn't have time to grab the keys. As he reached for the door the gauntlet flew from one corner of the lab and came and enveloped Tony's palm as he fired off a shot at the door, blasting it off. He quickly entered the large wardrobe which was actually his personal server connected with the Stark Industries' network link for some extra juice in networking performance. He quickly grabbed one of the racks containing many storage servers and moved it aside, ripping many cables in doing so. If it wasn't for the gauntlet in his palm he wouldn't have been able to do so. He quickly found the network cable that was connected to his private system as he pulled it out. He then exited the room, running over to his table in the lab to see if everything was alright. He quickly engaged Jarvis on is system to run a scan for any and all sensitive data. He had temporarily shut down Jarvis in her personal system to test and run the project program he was working on. He had already tried doing it with Jarvis running in the background but the program would see Jarvis as a threat to its own functionality. In simple words the program saw Jarvis as a virus and vice versa so while doing tests with the program Tony would shut Jarvis down in his system. If it was running right now then probably his files would've been intact. The program had started to scan through the entire network and cloud data of the Stark industries out of nowhere. Tony wondered why it would do that until he remembered the that one of the many instructions that he had coded, one was to look for any and all potential and prevailing malwares, viruses and anything else that could pose a threat to the human society or prevent the program from doing its job of protecting the human race.

"All files intact, sir," Jarvis' voice came from the speakers. "Although the program tempted to make a copy of the entire data it could scan in the given time and stored it in its cache. I could try to scan and remove those data but I am not functional in the presence of those heuristics."

Tony cursed under his breath. Of the program had sensitive data or any data stored in its cache memory then it would mean he would have to remove and/or alter those data through the codes of the program itself and seeing as there were about a million code lines Tony was not able to gather up the courage to go through all of it once again just to clear the data information that apparently the program had copied from his servers. He decided to skip the process for now. He had two things to do at first. One of them would be building a power source, a separate power source for his system so that he could run the program without any issue of endangering his other equipment and the second would be to create a more secure and separate network spoofing its proxy data continuously so that the program can be run without any more similar incidences as to what had happened just now. Shutting down the system he looked at the clock. It was about six in the morning. Tony decided to get some shut eye before planning the rest of his day ahead. He also had to go to the new facility he had bought for building a new Avengers base of operation considering having one such thing in the middle of one of the most crowded and busiest cities in the world was not a good option after the battle of New York.

00000

Nick received the message. He immediately got off his seat and the next moment he was in his car heading to the secret SHIELD location that was currently in development.

"Is it confirmed?" he asked getting off the car as Hill approached him with a tablet in her hands.

"We lost all tracks off of it after Stone moved it from the STAR Labs facility," Hill said.

"When did it happen?" he asked.

"We think it happened the night Gotham was attacked," she said.

"And when did we come to know about it?" Nick asked, anger and frustration clear in his voice.

"A few hours ago, sir," Hill said, keeping her cool in front of her boss. She had seen Fury furious many times before and she knew how to act around him to not get on his already nerved nerves. "We are currently tracking Silas all over the globe but there seems to be no trace of him."

"No," Nick said, raising his right index finger and shaking it left to right as he shook his head as well. "We can't trust on our trackers and tracers either. If the signal was abruptly stopped then something happened to it and Silas is somehow responsible for it and if not that then he at least knows what happened to it. His division was given the task to work on it."

"What now, sir?" she asked.

"We wait until we receive the signal back," he said.

"You think it is still intact?" Hill asked. "Last time we tracked it in Gotham vicinity and that city was burning. We don't even know if it could survive in situations like that."

"If that thing is in Gotham then we might as well forget it," Fury said. "Thanks to that Bat we won't even be able to get our hands on it. He made it clear that it was his city and no one was to interfere with it."

"But isn't he old?" Hill asked, knowing how Batman operated from the little information SHIELD was able to gather on the vigilante from the early days it was trying to establish contact with him.

"That doesn't mean his skills and intelligence hasn't increased," Fury said. "From what Steve told me Tony, who was the only one conscious enough at that time inside the warehouse at the docks in Gotham saw the Batman take down an army of mercenaries with deadly arms like it was nothing. I don't suppose I need to tell you this as well that with age comes wisdom and that guy with more wisdom is more dangerous to rattle."

00000

The machine beeped, showing the vital signs that he was alive. Silas saw his son from the observation room as a small team of scientists also observed and timely recorded all the general body movements and vitals if necessary. It was still marvelous how Victor's body was holding on after what had happened to him. Not to mention the machines easily recording his vitals considering the surfaces they were attached to. It had seemed a dumb idea at first, attaching the ECG and other machines to monitor Victor's vitals considering there wasn't much left on his body apart from a strange alien metal. How would those machines monitor his son's health whose body was completely changed now? But somehow it had worked. It was as if Vic's skin and muscles still acted like them even after turning into metal.

Turning his head to his right he looked at the tightly armored container that contained the cube. When he was given this project by SHIELD he didn't know much about the box apart from the basic information that the SHIELD itself had been able to gather. That being that the metal the cube was made from wasn't from this planet or even if it was then they hadn't discovered it yet. After studying it for several years Silas found out that the metal seemed to be active or more precisely alive. With his small classified team that SHIELD had provided Silas managed to know one thing about the cube – it radiated energy, a kind that apparently stimulated living growth. With the tests he had conducted with the cube he could later confirm his theory and so when his son was returning home after football practice that night in Gotham and when the dustbin next to him exploded taking out three blocks with it. All Silas could find was his son's left torso, right palm and a heavily disfigured and almost completely destroyed face. He was on his way to deliver the cube to the SHIELD agent the government organization had set up for the transportation of the cube when he heard about it and turned the truck around himself and drove like a madman to where his son lay dead on the street. Losing all his senses he gathered the remains of his son in his blood soaked hands as he cried silently. Taking those remains which only included a half blown head, a right hand palm and a left torso. He had undergone a breakdown as he senselessly dropped himself on the long table where he placed his son's remains beside the box that contained the cube when a sparkling sound grabbed his attention as he saw sparks coming out from the cube container and flexing his son's remains when like a miracle and much to the shock and fear of the rest of the scientists sitting inside the van Vic drove a shallow breath.

Not caring about anything and remembering only one thing about the cube that it radiated a kind of energy Silas changed the course of his destination. His son would not die. He wouldn't let him die even if it meant bringing him back from the dead using an alien cube.

Reaching his lab he knew SHIELD would understand why the cube wasn't delivered. The explosions in Gotham served a great excuse for Silas and his team to disappear with Victor and the cube. He knew how to hide from SHIELD agents and SHIELD itself. No one would find them unless he was ensured his son was safe from any threats.

Opening the door to his lab he and his team led the cube and Victor's remains inside and placed them near to each other on the large table as Silas began the preparation. He didn't know what he was doing or how he would save his son with the cube but he knew he needed to try. Attaching some sensors on to his son's forehead Silas drew out a great sigh of relief to know that his son's brain was working although a part of it was destroyed. This was all happening because of the box. Somehow the box had made it all possible. Not knowing how and leaving everything to fate itself Silas and his team began the preparations to save Victor Stone.

00000

The cool air that waved through the neighborhood made the night a pleasant one so Kara opened her room's window and went to bed. She had had a long day in school. The homework load was also much more this time as exams were coming and she was dreading the subjects. She looked at the books spread on her study table as she lay on her bed. After the whole day of studying she had finally finished the last chapters of History, mugging up whatever she could to ensure she will at least pass the subject before she had stretched herself on the chair and had went for a long cold shower to relax her. A light dinner later she had thrown herself on the bed. She had decided to skip class the next day as nothing much was going on except for final revisions so most of the students were skipping anyway. She decided she would wake up late tomorrow morning and after going through her normal routine would sit to study again. As she checked her phone for some light internet browsing she heard something that sounded like someone was walking on the roof. Listening a bit more clearly she realized it wasn't her roof as the sound came from a bit afar. Curiosity got the best of her as she climbed out of her bed and walked over to her open window that gave her the view of the empty street in her neighborhood. She looked around. The street was empty. All the houses had their lights shut as everyone was deep asleep when she noticed something on the roof of the Parkers. Using her Kryptonian vision she looked closer to realize there was a man on the roof wearing a weird kind of red and blue spandex suit and big black goggles. It seemed as if whoever this guy was he was coming out of Peter's room as the guy now shut his window. Thinking he might freak out and the man running away, instead of calling Peter she used her x-ray vision to see if Peter was alright. She knew it was a bad thing to use this power of her to look into other people's houses. Clark had specifically told her how much people wanted their privacy and this powers that they had gained on this planet wet so much against that idea of others. But she couldn't help herself as she saw inside Peter's room. The round elevation on the bed made her realize he was sleeping. But if someone was walking on his rood why wasn't he awake? From what she had seen in the boy he had a good sense response time. His hearing was acute and sharp along with his reflexes. He should've heard the guy walking on his roof. Focusing a more closely she realized that inside the blanket wasn't Peter but a couple of pillows set in a way that would fool others that there was someone lying inside the blanket. She then shifted her x-ray vision over to the guy who was now standing on the roof completely and looking around, doing some light stretches. The face underneath the mask surprised her. It was Peter. Why was he wearing this ridiculous outfit and doing stretches on his roof at two in the morning? A minute later she saw what shocked her even more. Peter stopped doing his stretches and walking over to the edge of the roof he shot something out of his hand. It came from a weird looking wrist band that he wore. The silver strand that came out of it allowed him to swing away from one tree to another as he disappeared into the darkness of the night. Somehow she then realized that she had seen it somewhere else. She quickly went over to her laptop and opened the search engine, typing in details of the suit that Peter was wearing. The first three search results were YouTube links uploaded by the local people of the city. More results showed names like web slinger or rope slinger, insect man, webbed hero, etcetera. She opened one of the videos where Peter came out of nowhere and stopped a mid-sized truck from ramming into a school bus by bringing himself in between them. The rear portion of the truck lifted up from the impact and when it fell down on the ground Kara saw Peter emerged from between the vehicles unharmed as he shot the silver strand from his wrist thing and swung away, people cheering behind him as the amateur video ended. More than three million people had watched the video, many speculating that maybe a new Avenger member was in town. Someone had commented that since the suit of this new hero looked so weird and handmade it was probably because he could be an intern for the Avengers.

If Peter was a member of the Avengers then Clark or Tony should've known about him but that wasn't the case because neither of them had told her anything about him. She had met all of the members of the Avengers and Peter wasn't one of them. But what made her more curious about this newfound information that how was Peter able to do that? Was he an alien as well or a subject of some kind of an experimentation like Steve and Banner? She knew she couldn't ask him straightaway. That way she would lose even whatever chance she had in knowing the reason behind why Peter did this and who he was. She needed to know this slowly, make sure that he could trust her. Or she could catch him red- handed as the humans said in a reference.

00000

Lex entered the facility with his assistant in tow. He had a small briefcase in his hand that contained the required paperwork to enter the secured facility as it was under heavy government surveillance. The reason behind it being in the middle of the city. The government had thought that people were no longer unknown to aliens and so when the Kryptonian ship crashed in the middle of Metropolis the government didn't even bother to remove it to a secure location. They simply secured a three-mile radius blocks and established a base of operation for the discovery and knowhow of the alien ship.

"I brought back the resident if you don't mind?" Lex told the security guard as he searched the billionaire.

"Right this way, sir," the guard said, guiding him inside the ship as the large container was pushed behind him inside the ship.

They walked for minute before reaching the restrictive area. "I guess we're here," Lex said, turning towards the guard who wasn't authorized to enter anymore. The guard responded with a smile as he and two more who pushed the crate left Lex and is secretary alone there, leaving the place. Lex turned around, swiping his clearance card into the security lock, opening the door leading him inside the ship. Mercie pulled the crate behind him.

The three guards were en route the exit when one of them made a turn. "Hey, where are you going?" one of the guards asked.

"Take a pee," the guard replied, leaving the other two as he secretly took an exit route carefully planned and in the blind spots of the surveillance cameras. Exiting out of the facility the guard came to a good distance before reaching below his face and pulled out the mast that he wore. It was Natasha under the disguise of the security guard. Throwing the mask on the ground where it caught fire by itself, destroying it without any traces she turned around and looked at the facility from the distance. To say she was surprised to see Lex Luthor there would be an understatement. Lex Corp didn't deal with anything military or private security stuff and even if it would there could be no way that Lex could get a clearance to enter the facility, far less into the ship. Even Stark couldn't get the clearance when he had the backing of SHIELD chair people. She had also noticed one thing – Lex's secretary pulled the crate like it was nothing. The crate was easily about three to four hundred pounds in weight and she pulled it like it was nothing.

Walking over to her car she got in and revved the engine. She had a report to make. Annoyingly enough this time to Tony.

00000

He opened his eyes, carefully looking around. Before he could see he could hear the many machines beeping. He recognized those sounds concluding that he might be in the emergency room in the hospital. He knew what sounds there were in a hospital emergency room as being a football player he had quite a share of his time when he was a trainee. Shifting his gaze as much as he could he tried to look around as he found it hard to move his body. It didn't seem like a hospital emergency room. This was way too clean to be one. Finally he succeeded in turning his head a little to his right and saw the various instruments and monitors on the several stands and wall. No, this was not an emergency room at all. Then he remembered what had happened to him. He was returning back from the practice for the match they were supposed to have the coming week. Suddenly out of nowhere he heard a series of explosions and people's cries. With every passing moment the explosions' sound felt nearing when he saw the dust bin a couple yards away from him explode. He could feel the heat even before the explosion and in a millisecond he was thrown away, a sharp pain shooting throughout his body as his mouth let out a cry but he was bead before that as his limbs and organ shattered and were thrown in different directions.

Victor took in a long breath as he realized he had relieved what had happened to him in the most horrified way. It was as if someone had played a slasher movie inside his head and it felt all real. Maybe it was some sort of a nightmare but it felt real and honestly like a memory. Then he saw something that made him stop for a while. From the corner of his eyes he saw something of a metallic grey in color. It was his tow. He moved his tow and it moved like it was supposed to. But why was it colored this way? Was it turned blue or lacked blood? Was his toe broken? He didn't feel any pain but that could be because of the anesthetic. As he looked at it he looked at the rest of the fingers on his foot. They all looked like that. Managing to lift up his body he saw his whole bottom was different. It was as if he was wearing some kind of a prosthetic. His heart rate began to elevate as his breathing became quick and shallow. Suddenly he heard a slight whizzing sound as his vision became reddish as if he was wearing some red sunglasses. Then out of nowhere he saw many numbers, characters, lines and circles coming in his sight, scanning the place, showing him data. It was as if he had worn some sort of a visor with high-tech measurement capabilities and features. A corner of his sight showed words blinking 'Elevated heartbeat.' Another part of his vision showed his pulse reading and blood pressure. Victor started to panic more as he moved his body. He then saw both his hands. Apart from his right palm everything else was of prosthetics. His sight scanning and showing him data of it all, a majority of it in a language he didn't recognize.

Victor closed his eyes, hoping that this was a nightmare. He recognized that feeling. It was like those panic attacks he got when he first started playing professionally. The fear of going into a stadium, playing in front of a huge crowd and facing interviews, backlash, everything else. He had experienced it all and at the beginning the pressure from it all made him wanting to even quit. This was the same kind of feeling he was experiencing right now so he did what he did in those scenarios. He tried to cool his head and took in a few long breaths. The ECG beeping slowing down until it beeped at normal rate.

He opened his eyes and saw the redness in his vision had been gone along with the weird things he had been seeing. But the changes in his physical body remained the same. He then saw there was someone else in the room. It appeared to be a doctor in a white coat. Victor recognized the man. He was Richard, his father's assistant. A moment later someone else entered the room. It was his father.

"Victor?" his dad said as he came closer to him.

"Dad? What's going on?" Victor asked a different kind of shakiness in his voice. He then raised his hands, looking at them. He then looked at his legs. Apart from one of his torsos everything else looked metal. It was as if someone had dipped him in molten metal and taken him out, creating a metal casing around him. The irregular metallic surfaces on various regions of his body appeared with sharp edges, smooth shine and someplace a molten type of look. The irregularity made it all very difficult for Victor to understand what had happened to him.

"You were in an accident, Victor," Silas said after a minute's pause and when his son stopped looking at himself and looked at his father. "Can you give us a minute?" he asked, turning towards Richard who looked at Victor before looking at Silas and leaving the room after giving him an understanding nod.

Silas walked over to one side of the room where a chair was kept. He brought it closer to Victor and sat down.

"What's wrong with me, dad?" Victor asked.

Silas looked at his son. The single eye filling with tears as Silas teared up himself. "I know this is all very difficult and far more confusing for you but equally painful for me," Silas said, placing a hand on his son's, "but the most important thing is you are alive."

00000

Fury opened his communication link. It was Hill on the other side. He transferred her to a video call as he sat in his small office, overseeing the revival of SHIELD himself. "What is it?" he asked.

"We've received the cube," Hill said.

"The delay being?" Fury asked.

"Victor Stone, Silas' son was a victim in the Gotham explosion," Hill said. "It happened while the transfer was being made and…"

"And he prioritized his son's life over the instructions," Fury said. "Have you been in contact with him?"

"He's with his son at the hospital," Hill said.

"Which hospital?" he asked.

"He won't tell," Hill said. "He says he needs some private time until his son's well again."

Fury nodded nodding his head. "Tell him to at least call me. Who delivered the package, though?"

"Reese," Hill said. Fury gave an acknowledging nod before cutting the call.

00000

"Are you sure about that?" Clark asked as he looked out the window.

"I am telling you what I saw and what I saw was weird unless it is not weird at all," Kara said. "He is the infamous Spiderman the internet is all crazy about. Look."

"I've seen the video, thanks," Clark said, having been shown the video by her cousin three times already. "So you think he is an alien."

"Or a lab experiment, you know, like Banner and Rogers," Kara said.

"But you said he wore something on his wrist that shot those strands," Clark said.

"But that doesn't explain his strength and agility," Kara said. "I've seen him in school, Kal. He's got the perfect score for being the school football captain. People said out of nowhere one day while being bullied by Flash Thompson he stood up to himself and when he did so Flash being the douche he is thought maybe he could humiliate Peter publicly so he asked him to play a match with him. Peter instead, humiliated Flash. He showed suck skills that even the coach approached him, complimenting him that if he were to join the team then there would be no doubt they would be winning the coming matches with the rest of the schools. Although Peter had declined it had gotten him in the eyes of…."

"Not the off-side story, Kara," Clark said, interrupting her.

Kara stopped and blushed for a second. She was being herself, going too much into the detail. "Well, ever since that day he's been known as the guy who changed outright in a single night. Some say he takes steroids while some with extra mind says he did some sort of an experiment on himself considering how intelligent he is. I don't blame them. An overnight change like that would get anyone to notice him."

"Haven't you asked him yourself?" Clark asked.

"On what grounds, Kal?" she asked. "I joined late so I wasn't there to witness his overnight change so that leaves that out of the question. Also, I've seen Peter avoid questions and talks regarding that."

"So what do you plan to do?" Clark asked.

"I plan on catching him red-handed," Kara said. "That night I saw him in action. The next time that happens I will be ready with my camera."

"And then you will show him the recording and ask him the reason behind his actions," Clark said. "Great way to make things even more difficult to know."

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"What you said will only make it worse," Clark said. "From what I know of you and your relation with Parker your friendship with him is the key to this. Friendship creates trust between people and I want you to continue building that trust. Once you are at that level of sharing even your most important secrets – mind you that does not include you telling him who you really are – then you can ask him about his skills and abilities."

Kara nodded, understanding. She wondered how she would achieve that level of friendship, far less the trust Kal was talking about as she took out the strand she had taken from the tree as soon as Peter had vanished into the night's darkness that night. She showed it to Clark who took it with interest. "And this is the thing he shoots out of those wrist bands, I guess?" he asked.

Kara nodded. "Try to break it," she said. Clark did so and broke it easily. "Harder than anything that thin, isn't it?" she asked to which Clark nodded. "At least get it checked from Tony to see what it really is."

"I'll try," he said.

00000

Bruce looked at the camera footage he had managed to collect from the internet. It had captured the moment that night Gotham was put on to hell. Jason Todd, Bruce recalled the name as he saw the boy take down the gunmen. He had skills. Bruce wondered how the boy knew to fight. He had searched the boy down to the homeless shelter that came under Selina's operations. He dialed her number and informed her about his interest in the boy. She was surprised but didn't ask his reason behind it knowing full well he wouldn't tell her anything. She informed the facility of Bruce's arrival and to make preparations. The people wondered why Bruce Wayne would show interest in a homeless shelter as no one did.

Bruce arrived at the place an hour later. The small crowd of the people working there were outside to welcome him. He was guided into the main office where Chris Freeman, the man who ran the place sat. He welcomed the man equally wondering what that man was doing here. Was he planning to adopt someone? But why? At this age? Was he looking for an heir to the empire? Granted there weren't any more Waynes other than himself but that couldn't be said as Bruce Wayne had a history of affairs in his young age when he was rumored to be a playboy.

"Mr Wayne, what a pleasant surprise," Chris said as he shook hands with the man. He was surprised seeing how firm Bruce shake was considering his age. Maybe the man still went to gym once a while every month. "Ms Kyle mentioned your visit today. How can we help you?" he asked.

"I want to meet Jason Todd," Bruce said. "He is one of the recent ones here, a child of about thirteen to fourteen years."

Chris took out a file and flipped the pages as he stopped at one and turned the file around for Bruce to see. "Is that him?"

"Yes," Bruce answered.

"Are you looking forward to adopt him?" Chris asked.

"Something like that," Bruce answered. "He is the only teenager or should I say child here at this facility and I was wondering if it would be alright for me to take him to the boys' home."

"Yours?" Chris asked. "I don't see why that would be a problem. But we do not do that kind of paperwork here. I mean we do not have that much legal backing from the law office considering how helping homeless isn't that much appreciated in our country. If you know what I mean?"

"I am sure Selina wouldn't mind me taking the boy without some meaningless paperwork," Bruce said. "Besides, it is best for that boy to be there, amongst his peers and he would make friends his own age there. There's nothing here for him. Mr Chris, the way I see it if something that you do for the goodwill and betterment of others, you shouldn't see the laws behind that motive." Chris nodded as he stood up and shook hands with the man. "I will inform Ms Kyle myself," Bruce said. "She and I go way back and we are in good relation."

00000

Victor woke up and looked around, still lying. It had been days since he had regained consciousness and since then he was at his father's facility somewhere he didn't know. He looked at his hands, all metal and weird edges. It still felt so different and alien to him, after all this time. What was more was that he was still getting used to it. Turns out whatever this thing was that his father had used to save his life was doing things to him. It was as if he was subjected to an experiment and the result was with some side effects.

He had dreamt about them again. The red skies, destruction everywhere as three cubes aligned erasing all life forms known and then a ship descended from the skies, a huge ship followed by an infinite number of alien army. Then Victor would see those red stoney eyes looking right at him, boring into his soul as he would wake up.

He had been having these dreams since the day he had regained consciousness and was in this state. At first he thought they would go away but when they didn't he got worried. He didn't know what that thing was. Was it a dream or a vision he didn't know but one thing he was sure of was that it felt real like it was happening right in front of him. A chill ran down his spine if that could be said about him as Victor re-lived that dream of his once more in his thoughts. His thoughts stopped when he heard the door open.

"Vic, you are up," Silas, his father said as he entered the room. He looked at his son, examining him closely. "Did you have a nightmare again?" he asked. Victor only nodded his head. "What was it this time?"

"The same thing," Victor said. "Red skies, weird monsters, destruction and things like that."

Silas looked at his son and the room was silent for a minute before he spoke. "I was wondering about continuing some more experiments, see if anything new can be discovered about your…condition."

Victor nodded. Ever since he was feeling well physically his father had asked him to be subject in various of his experiments, intended to know the new form Victor had. Silas knew this was not possible from the cube as whatever that cube was it had always remained dormant, inactive but ever since merging with Victor Silas was discovering new things about this object through his son. For instance Victor could communicate with any form of machinery, manipulate electrical and wave energies and many things like that. Later on they had discovered that Victor could access any type of electrical component be that a satellite or a double A battery from any distance and any place. He could access surveillance, change and align coordinates of ships and planes and even military UAVs and satellites.

At first Silas thought that SHIELD was probably after this power from the box, the ability to control all things electric on earth, probably for military purposes. Maybe it was a good thing Fury wasn't asking for him. He couldn't in open daylight as to the world Nick Fury was dead. The former chief members of SHIELD who were responsible for running the super-secret government organization had closed it down after it was found that HYDRA had infiltration in it. In less than a year Fury emerged from the shadows he was hiding in and formed a small group of people, people only he trusted. He then began forming a new organization, far more secret than SHIELD. It had to be. SHIELD was sanctioned and backed by the government. This new organization was not so if it ever came to light the government would close it first-hand then ask questions later.

Nick had allowed Silas to be a part of his small trust group, something Silas thought was very important to the man. This was why he felt bad for not telling Fury what he was doing. But he knew Fury would understand. After all he was prioritizing his family over his profession. There was nothing wrong with it ethically or morally and if responsibilities were a thing of discussion in that scenario then Silas had kicked then far away from the tip of his boots.

They entered another room, this one a complete white box-type enclosure. Everything from the ceiling to the walls to floor illuminated with bright white light and it looked like they were inside a bright big box. Victor looked around, his human eye squinting a little because of the light as his other eye scanning the place. Not visible through human eyes his other eye found a window on the west side of the room. Normally it looked like any part of wall inside the room but it was actually like a one way mirror. He also scanned hidden cameras in every corner of the rooms, securely hidden along with voice recorders.

"What are we trying to do next?" Vic asked, still looking around the room.

"This is a state of the art virtual simulation facility," Silas said. "It is still a prototype so we don't know how much it will work but we want to know how your new body reacts to it."

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"We have found that the cube that we used to fix you and save your life, whatever it did to your body, it has its own mind," Silas said. Victor looked at him, his human eye wide with surprise. So that explained why he couldn't sometimes control his movements. "We are thinking of this new body of yours as something that has latched onto you. Well, it is now trying to protect you in some ways as your human anatomy has changed completely. From outside you may look like a normal person, well, whatever of you is left normal (Vic made a face) but inside we found that your organs have been merged with this new body of yours. The metal that it is made of has combined with you on a cellular level!"

"Am I supposed to understand any of that?" Victor asked, never a bright student in his studies.

"Do you know what a DNA is?" his father asked to which he nodded his head in a 'yes'. "Well, yours has been merged with this…this…" he said, trying to find a word for his son's condition as he grasped and taped his arm.

Victor understood that reference and that meant he couldn't get back to normal ever again. He took out his hoodie, his bare body underneath and looked himself. There was a red glow underneath all that metal in his chest area.

"Let's begin, shall we?" Silas asked. Victor nodded his head. His father left him in the room and exited through one of the doors. "We are going to begin, son," Silas' voice rang inside the room before everything went dark. Victor's other eye, the one that was red, glowed bright for a moment before going back to normal. He now saw everything in night mode, even clearer to be honest as he looked around. There were no changes inside the room. "What is going on, Victor?" Silas' voice came through the speakers.

"I don't know," Victor said. "You tell me. Aren't you suppose to conduct an experiment?"

"We are running the simulation," Silas said. Can't you see it?"

"All I see is this room in a rather spectacular night vision," Victor said.

"Looks like his body knows that it is a simulation," Victor told one of the doctors. "Shut it down. We will have to try another approach."

"Yes, doctor," the man said before pressing a few buttons but nothing happened.

"What's going on?" Silas asked.

"The commands are not working, sir," the man said. "I am trying to shut it off but it is not responding."

Suddenly a beeping sound grabbed their attention. It was the processor getting overload with the running simulation.

"The processor is red-lining!" Silas said as he tried shutting the simulation himself but nothing was working.

"Maybe we should've checked it once before running it on full load?" the man said, earning a look from Silas making him shut his mouth.

"Victor? Victor can you hear me?" Silas said through the mike.

"What is going on, dad?" Victor asked.

"We are encountering a problem," Silas said. "We can't shut down the program. You need to get out of that room. Can you find the door?"

"I suppose I can," Victor said, easily seeing the door through his night vision enabled eye as he started to walk towards the exit.

"Shit!" the man cursed as he and Silas ducked down when one of the servers handling the load sparked and caught fire due to the program being overload.

"I'll get the extinguisher," the man said, getting up from his seat and running out of the room. He didn't even know they had any fire extinguisher in that place. Silas took his seat and began pressing buttons on the keyboard, entering commands to shut down everything but nothing worked as the monitor showed the load only increasing when suddenly an explosion happened inside the room taking down the door with it. Silas covered his face as the see-through window smashed right in his face. Opening his eyes he saw as the smoke cleared his son standing inside the room, covering himself with his hands, one of which had formed a cannon of some sort.

The door opened and the man entered carrying a small fire extinguisher and he, too, saw Victor's new form. A visor of some sort now covered his face as his completely metal hand was now shaped like a deadly looking cannon. He was looking around, trying to figure out what was happening when after a minute his body went back to normal.

00000

Jason got out of the car and looked at the huge manor. "This is awesome," he said as Bruce exited the car. "I still can't believe this is a boys' home."

"A new facility is being made in the city," Bruce said. "Until then this is where we keep the city's orphaned kids.

"Why did you bring me here?" Jason asked looking at Bruce.

"That place back there isn't for kids," Bruce said. "Also, I was pretty impressed when you helped take down those gunned men in that hospital that day."

"Living on the streets makes you learn a thing or two," Jason said.

Bruce smiled. "A friend of mine used to say this when I met her when we were small."

"She lived on the streets?" Jason asked. Bruce nodded. "Seems a bit far-fetched, Bruce Wayne befriending homeless."

Bruce didn't reply. He walked towards the manor. Jason followed him quietly.

00000

John made himself visible. Since there was no one present in the area being invisible seemed to be pointless. Besides it took effort. Walking down the dusty road he looked around. Not long ago Steve and Natasha had visited this place, tracking down a coordinate given to them by Nick Fury when SHIELD was compromised by HYDRA. This place was where they had found HYDRA's one of the many secret bases.

He walked towards what seemed to be a really old computer system and turned it on. The many CPUs and other hardware all lit up as the place echoed with a humming sound coming from the old tech. five minutes later a pixelated graph showed itself on the monitor, slowly changing its form into what looked like a very poor representation of a face.

"Who are you?" a machined sound came from the speaker.

John didn't say anything. He knew what he had to do. Typing a key code on the keyboard he pressed enter and the display changed, opening a command window with an underscore blinking. He typed in few lines of what seemed a very complex code. It was long – about a few hundred lines but there was no one to disturb him either. There had been a mention once when John and Loki had grabbed one of the HYDRA agents who had told them that Zolo or rather his conscience that he had somehow transferred inside a micro-chip had created an algorithm capable of finding any enhanced way before by predicting the course of nature surrounding that said person.

Pressing the enter key John let the code he had entered run its course and waited for a few moments when the executed result brought a smile of content on his face. He took out the sophisticated thumb drive and inserted it into the computer, copying the algorithm and deleting any and everything from the system before setting the whole place on fire. He stood there in the distant and waited for the fire to die down to ensure that everything was in fact destroyed. It had been and once being assured of it he left the place, making himself disappear as he flew to the sky.

00000

The men kept their eyes on him, making sure they were hidden. The man sure lived a lavish life being one of the best surgeons sure came in with big pockets. The place was lavish and as per their intel he seemed quite interested in wrist watches. If there was anything truth in the intel that they were getting it better be worth the risk or the country was losing one of its best neurosurgeons tonight.

Dr. Steven Strange opened his garage door and revved his Lamborghini as he took it out from his garage and into the drive-way. He checked his phone for any messages. There weren't one but he kept it on as there was an important surgery going in which he was to attend to if it went on after midnight. So, despite knowing the dangers of using a cell while driving he kept it on and revving his engine drove off to attend the party.

"He just left," the man said into the earpiece and got the confirmation. He nodded to his fellow men when a hooded figure appeared in front of them and they all fell down, unconscious. When they woke up they had no idea what they were doing there or who they were with. They didn't recognize each other either.

00000

Banner looked at the screen. He couldn't believe the levels of radiation he was picking up from Sokovia. He looked around. It was past midnight and there was no one except for a few guards in the facility. He needed to make a call. He checked the surveillance. His line was clear so he took out his cell and dialed Tony's number.

"You realize the time, right?" Tony said in a dizzy voice.

"I've located the scepter," Banner said.

Tony rose from his bed. Pepper mumbled a little before continuing to sleep. He gave out a sigh before exiting the bedroom and coming in the hall. "How sure?"

"Hundred percent," Banner said. "What now?"

"Send me the coordinates," Tony said. "And call in the team."

"Everyone?" Banner asked.

"Everyone," Tony replied before cutting the call and walking into his lab. He turned on Jarvis and brought up his email. The coordinates were there. "Scan the place," Tony instructed Jarvis.

"The place is Sokovia," Jarvis said. "The scepter seems to be in a prehistoric monument currently under seize by the last remains of HYDRA agents."

"Perfect," Tony said. "Rogers' is going to love this trip unfortunately."

00000

Bruce found the small envelope in his drawing room early in the morning as he returned from his nightly patrol. He looked around carefully before picking up the envelop. The letter L on top of it make him know who it was from as he tore open the paper carrier and took out a flash drive. It looked like they've got it. Bruce knew what was in there. It seemed like he wouldn't get any sleep today.

00000

The quintjet made itself appear as it descended through the clouds. It was raining hard and visibility was zero. Fortunately enough Thor was also available. When asked he said that he was in London as Jane had encountered some weird phenomenon, founding an unknown bi-frost portal in one of the small towns of the city. They didn't hear anymore as they hardly understood anything after that as the jet reached the destination.

"Any idea if there's a possibility of Strucker being there?" Steve asked.

"We are already here, Cap. Why don't we find out?" Clint said as he landed the jet amongst the vegetation and enabled the stealth to keep it hidden from any and all trackers.

"Thanks for the help," Steve told Thor.

"Oh, no problem," Thor said. "I was on earth after ending some matter related to Jane. I thought maybe I will stay for a few days and then you guys called me. It is fun involved in your little patrols."

"This is not a patrol," Nat said as she turned off the jet and opened the rear hanger. Everyone made their way out of the jet, Tony already scanning the entire place, connected with Jarvis and his satellite the whole time.

"There seems to be a barrier around the place Strucker is," Tony said. "The signature matches that of Loki's scepter."

"Then we know the scepter is with him," Steve said. "Any blockade or guards?"

"Many," Tony said. "I suppose you are ready for this?" he asked, looking towards Banner.

"I don't know, Tony," Banner said. "I mean I am only here because of the scepter. In case it is lost again then I am the one who's going to track it down."

"That's what happened the last time," Clint said.

"No one is forcing you to turn green Bruce," Tony said. "But in case you do I want you to direct your anger towards the target. Besides there isn't going to be any innocent collateral damage because the nearest city is twenty miles south of here."

Bruce nodded his head as he went back inside the jet, turning on his gamma trackers specialized in picking up even the slightest of gamma radiation. Everyone else prepared to take down the fight. Tony took to the sky and Clint found a place from where he could shoot. Nat and Steve went ahead and Thor attacked head on into the coming tank.

00000

Kara woke up from her sleep hearing the creaking sound across the road. She sighed as she walked over to her window with the curtains down. Not taking any risks she used her x-ray vision to see through the thin fabric at a costumed Peter closing his bedroom window before swinging away in the darkness of the night. She had it. It had been more than a week and she had not had a single chance of confronting him red handed. She was getting impatient, tired of waiting so tonight was it. She was still in her night dress when she got out through the window and slowly flew towards the direction Peter went a minute ago.

It wasn't long before she found him. He was in the city, pursuing a speeding van. It appeared to have been hijacked as she saw two masked men in the front seats, both armed. She then saw what was inside the van. There were chemical containers with bio-hazard signs all around them. The van had the Oscorp logo which was a pretty big biotech company. She saw Peter in his self-made suit as he pursued the van with extreme agility. There were a few cop cars pursuing the van so it seemed those hijackers hadn't noticed Peter yet. Peter seemed to know that as he jumped on the room of the van, immediately crouching down, his fingers gripping the roof surface, preventing him from falling. The guy on the passenger seat pushed out his head and tried to look over, firing his gun when he saw a costumed boy on the roof.

"It's that damned Spiderman," the driver said. "Everyone's a gimmick now."

Peter held on to the van as the driver started to shake it from left to right, hitting one of the other cars that lost control and hit the cop car behind the van, taking both of them in a ball of explosion a moment later.

"No," Peter gasped as he stood up on the roof and looked horrified at the explosion that was his fault. He clenched his fists, turned around,, facing forward and shooting two web slings from his hands pulled two parked cars towards the van. There was no way the van could escape it.

Kara knew of the van exploded then whatever was inside that van would spread and who knew if it was flammable. Then it would be an even bigger problem. She knew it had risks but she needed to do this. Hopefully she will get in and out in less than a second. She could only hope she could do it like her cousin. She blasted towards the van, shooting off her lasers to cut the web slings and stopped the two cars from colliding with the van. Peter looked shocked as he recognized her. He froze for a moment before Kara quickly took care of the two in the front seat as she threw them hard on the asphalt where the cops caught them. Before they could see who had helped them catch the bad guys she was gone along with the weird suited guy.

Kara threw him on the ground. It was a good thing that the soil was soft for he didn't felt much pain. Peter got up, dusting off himself when he looked Kara standing in front of him.

"Kara?" he managed to say amongst all the shocking things he had seen tonight.

"Are you out of your mind?" Kara said, controlling her anger. "What the hell were you thinking?" she said, almost screaming at him.

"Wha…What? How?" Peter couldn't find words. "Ho…How did you find me? And what was all that?"

"Don't change the topic," Kara said.

"I am stating the obvious!" Peter exclaimed. "You…You flew and…and…and shot lasers! With your eyes! How?"

Kara stood straighter as Peter found his ground, looking right at her, his mask in his face and his eyes showing shock, surprise, confusion and a little bit of fear, too. Kara could hear his heartbeat. It was beating like anything and she knew she couldn't get anything out of him in that state.

"Let's…Let's head back," she said after a minute's pause.

"No," Peter said, his voice a bit more adamant and more in control. "I want to know what the hell that was."

"Can we talk once we go back and not do this in the middle of the street?" Kara requested. Peter looked around.

"I don't even recognize this neighborhood," he said. "How…How far did you bring me?" Kara took out her mobile and turned on the map. They were about twenty miles away from their homes.

"Wow," she said looking at the screen. "I really shot it at the crime scene. I…I'm sorry," she said as she showed Peter where they were. "I can take us back."

"No, thank you," Peter said. "I can make my own way back home. I don't want to have another near death experience."

"I held you pretty tightly!" Kara defended herself.

"From heart attack, damn it!" Peter said angrily before he calmed down. "I'm sorry about the outburst…this is all…it was an experience."

"Sorry," Kara said slowly. "Are you hurt?" she asked.

"A little," Peter admitted. "You held me a bit roughly," she said, rolling up the sleeve of his left hand which Kara had caught while flying him out of there. She saw a red hand print of hers on his upper arm, near the shoulders. In the moment she hadn't controlled herself.

"Meet me in my room when we head back," Kara said. "You sure you don't want me to give you a lift?"

"I'm fine, thanks," Peter muttered.

"Suit yourself," Kara said before blasting off towards the night sky. Peter kept looking above before shooting off a web sling and swing his way out of wherever he was.

Kara saw Peter land gracefully on the pavement half an hour later. She signaled him to come inside as she opened her front door. She went in after Peter. "So, wanna tell me what that was?" she asked.

"You first," Peter said. Kara folded her hands. "You seem more desperate and I am. I can do without knowing what you really are."

"Can you?" Kara said, staring right into Peter's soul. He flinched a bit but held his own. Finally she gave out a sigh and took a seat. "Fine!" she muttered. "But as you know you cannot tell about this to anyone, not even your friend Ned."

"Why would I tell Ned?" Peter asked. "He doesn't even know my secret."

"Really?" Kara asked, a little surprised.

"Hey, you first, remember?" Peter said.

Kara took in a long breath before sitting straight. "I am Superman's cousin," she said.

Peter stood there like he had seen a two headed Kara as he stared at her with shock and awe on his face. He came back to reality when Kara snapped her fingers a couple times in front of his face. "You're…You're…Really?" he asked, a sudden look of doubt in his face. Kara was taken aback for a moment with that change in his reaction. She grabbed a pan from the kitchen and folded it into a roll right in front of him. "Even Captain America can do that," Peter said. "Are you sure you are not related to him?"

"I am pretty sure Captain America can't fly," she said, "or shoot laser from his eyes. Do you know who can do both?"

"Superman," Peter said. "So you really are his cousin?"

"Mhmm," she hummed with a nod. "Now you."

"Hold on a second," Peter said. "So that man who comes to meet you is…is Superman?"

"Before I tell you anything I need to know your side of the story," Kara said, denying him anymore information. Peter looked at her annoyingly before he agreed with a grumble. "So what are you?" she asked. "Are you a performer?"

"What? No!" Peter said. "What makes you assume that?"

"Well, I went to a circus once and saw them swing like you do so I formed an idea…" Kara said.

"I am not a performer," Peter said.

"Spiderman," Kara said his name out loud. "So you get your powers from a spider or are you an alien?"

"I am not an alien and the spider part is technically not completely true," Peter said. "It happened on a field trip that I had been to once. I had won the state quiz last year and I and my team of a few seniors and students from different schools were invited by Oscorp for a tour inside their R&D. A radioactive spider bit me there and ever since then I've had this powers."

"So a spider bit you and you became a superhero," Kara said in a nonchalant manner.

"Not a spider a radioactive spider," Peter said. "They were bioengineering to perfect the endangered spider species…it's…it's not that important to go that deep. What you need to know is I got bit by a spider that was bioengineered to be…I don't know…superior or better? They didn't tell us much except for a few things like how they were planning to save indigenous species, species that were on the list of being wiped out and how they could recreate them artificially…it's all very complicated and I can't make you understand it because I myself don't. All I know that whatever it is that happened to me, it made me different in a night. I woke up the next morning and I had muscles, lean, clean cut muscles and abs. I had never worked out in my life and if those muscles weren't enough I get this amazing reflexes, my senses heightened, dialed up amazingly. I could sense danger like that bioengineered spider that had bit me. I could stick on the walls with just my bare hands. My physical strength had gone enormously high, I could stop a moving van, damn it! There were also side effects like me unable to control my senses and strength because of the sudden change in me. It took me time and here I am today."

"So you decide to dress up and play superhero," Kara said, unfolding her hands and leaning back on the chair.

"It's not like I wanted to," Peter said. "An…An incident happened not soon after I became like this. It involved my uncle and ever since then I try to do what little help I can…you know, be a neighborhood friendly superhero. Nothing much."

"Well, whatever it is that you have set in your mind, tonight was not the night for you," Kara said. Peter looked at her with a confused expression. "not only were you handling the situation like a pure amateur and someone who lacked complete experience in all that stuff you endangered everyone in the city probably."

"I was stopping a van hijacking, a pair of robbers stealing shit!" Peter said.

"What you don't know is that inside the van, the shit that those robbers were stealing, it was something with biological risk. Its container had the biohazard written all over it," she said.

"And how do you know that?" Peter asked.

"One of my powers is the ability to see through objects," Kara said.

"Of course you do," Peter said with an annoyed sigh as he stood straighter and walked over to the window and looked outside casually before speaking again. "So I told you my story," he said, turning to look at her. "Why don't you start your end of it?"

Kara looked at him for a moment before starting. "Like you know I am not a human," she said. "I and my cousin came from a planet krypton, a world that no longer exists."

"No longer exists?" Peter asked. "What happened?"

"Well, out people overused the planet's core as a natural resource, destabilizing the planet's gravity, magnetic field and what not. Not long after that the planet started to crumble from the inside," Kara said. "Even with high-tech technologies we could've all escaped the disaster but unlike our ancestors we Kryptonians had started to rely more from what we gained on our own planet." She paused and gave out a tired sigh. "My uncle, Kal's father foresaw this being a scientist. He knew the planet was far from being saved along with everyone on it so he built two ships for me and my cousin."

"Kal is the Kryptonian name of Superman?" Peter asked, receiving a nod from her.

"I and my cousin escaped narrowly but my ship was caught in the shockwave and deflected from the targeted path, throwing me in an interdimensional prison we Kryptonians used to punish the guilty – the phantom zone. Nothing moves there, not even time. Do you know the attack on Kansas by the aliens from our world?" Peter nodded his head. "It was conducted by the Kryptonian military general named Zod. You see, we Kryptonians are not born. We were grown, each with a genetic code specified for a certain duty or purpose. Mine was to be a soldier just like Zod's. Kal, my cousin, was the first natural birth in over a century at Krypton, his birth kept secret by his father and mine along with Zod."

"Wait a minute," Peter said. "Zod helped your family?"

"General Zod was a very good friend of ours," Kara said. "It wouldn't be wrong to say that we, the house of El were his only friends. Being the army general and me being genetically grown to be a soldier he gave me special training since I was young. When Kal's father told Zod about the imminent danger regarding our planet he took this over to our planet's ruling council, notifying them about the problem along with my uncle. They laughed it out so Zod took it upon himself to take action but he couldn't because of the council's decision so he attacked them, becoming a criminal. They imprisoned him in the phantom zone just as the planet was about to end. When it did its shockwave threw me into the closing phantom zone."

"So how did you get out?" Peter asked. "And why did Zod attack us knowing there was your cousin on this planet?"

"Above everything else what mattered to Zod were his people, us, the Kryptonians," Kara said. "He was a patriot on dangerous levels of showing his love and care for his people and their survival. My uncle had used this codes, the one thing that contained the genetic codes of every child grown on our planet and inserted it in my cousin. I don't know why he did that but it enraged Zod when he came to know about it after coming out of the phantom zone. That codex was the key to revive krypton so he searched and found my cousin, one of the last remaining of us Kryptonians and you know the rest."

"Where do you come in all of this?" Peter asked.

"Like I said, I was stuck in the phantom zone," Kara said. "I got out soon after Zod. While he searched the galaxies looking for our people I somehow survived and managed to recalibrate my ship's navigational system to arrive here. Call it fate or coincidence when I arrived Zod had already began his attack. I came on this planet and realized I was stuck in that prison for about thirty years."

"You don't look thirty," Peter said.

"Like I said, nothing matters inside the phantom zone," Kara said. "To be all honest I was older than Kal. I used to babysit him."

"How old?"

"What you are seeing now," Kara said. "My cousin was a toddler when the tragedy fell upon us all. While preparing to evade on that ship I knew I was the only one who could look after Kal but I didn't know how to do it. We both were going to an unknown world where an unknown fate awaited us. When I got separated from him during the explosion I got even more worried, wondering whether our parents knew about our fate."

Silence enveloped the room after then as Kara wiped away a tear streak from her face. Peter didn't know what to say or do in a situation like this. It was as if history was repeating for himself. When he saw a sitting Kara silently crying he remembered how his aunt used to cry when his uncle was gone. He remembered how he stood there unable to do anything because he didn't know what to do. Slowly he took a step forward and then the next, bringing his right hand closer to hers and gently put it on top of hers before giving it a squeeze. She looked up at him before sniffing and wiping her tears.

"So there you go," she said in a broken voice as she calmed herself down.

"I…I don't know what to say," Peter said.

"Say nothing," Kara said. "I don't need anyone's sympathy. I can take care of myself and my cousin."

"Must be hard caring for him since he is ages older than you," Peter said, making her let out a laugh.

"You are right there," she said with a sad smile as she looked at him. "Technically he is older than me and is my guardian."

"Must be annoying that you couldn't fulfill your wish to boss him around," Peter said.

"I do feel sad I missed that," Kara said as she stood up. "Thank you."

"For what?" Peter said.

"For this," she said. "For not making me stay sad and cry for the whole night."

"I don't know about you but I can't function properly when someone's crying in front of me," Peter said.

"Well, you did a good job," Kara said before coming closer to him and hugging him tightly. Peter lost the words to say as he felt her cling on to him, hearing her sniff once or twice knowing full well that she hadn't recovered from her memories a few minutes ago. He slowly brought his hands and placed them on her back, hugging her softly as his hands slowly started to rum her in a comforting manner. He didn't know when he started to do that but he didn't stop. "You are a good person, Peter," Kara said. "And I feel lucky to have a friend like yours."

 **00000**

 **Thanks for reading…**


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